The Erdman Family

August Randoms

2012-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

This post is basically a picture dump until I catch up and can start seperating them better. Enjoy sifting through our hectic month of August! :-)

I was in the bathroom, and you know that none of the kids or dogs would leave me alone to have a few minutes to myself...

Daddy's girl

I think there is a picture of Ryan in the dishwasher somewhere. I thought this was funny.

Dreaming of boobs...

Emmett thinks he is a person...

I was in full on panic mode. I couldn't find her anywhere in the house, and was about to call the police. I finally heard a giggle come from Ryan's room. Yet, seh wasn't there! I heard it again, and looked under the bed, and there she was! Crawling around under the bed playing. Holy crap she almost gave me a heart attack!

Sibling love in the tub! They love taking baths together and playing.

Again, Emmett thinks he is a person.

I don't know why he did this. But he stayed like that for a good long while.

There's Something About Mary

2012-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

First Day of Kindergarten

2012-01-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ryan is a big bad kindergartener. He was SO excited about his first day of school.

He requested waffles for his breakfast, of course I happily obliged. I had asked him the night before what he wanted. He said waffles first, then changed it and said just cereal. The morning he said waffles again. So, he got his waffles!

Nana and the whole fam came to see him off for his first day. I got teary eyed. I can't believe he is so big. He couldn't wait to get in the gate. They make all the parents stay out side of the gate, and the kids get checked in one by one. (The line was RIDICULOUS. I was glad we got there early). Ryan's mom showed up after he had gone in the gate already. He ran by to say hi and he was off again.

And now begins our mighty journey into elementary school. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this!

July Randoms

2012-01-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

Our month of July... in Pictures. They aren't edited. Sorry.

Ethan Loren Erdman

2012-01-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

My little boy. Ethan Loren Erdman came into this world at 11:29AM on July 12th, 2011. 19 1/2 inches, and 7lbs 4oz.

Me, in Labor. Now, both times labor has been pretty uneventful. I got my epidural right after they started the Pitocine. I didn't even feel any contractions.

My epidural hurt more than ANYTHING. Ugh. My epidural with Lilly was easy peasy, guy was done in 3 minutes. This guy took like 20 minutes. He was cracking jokes and trying to be funny, but all I wanted was for him to hurry the crap up. He finally got me all good to go, but he did my epidural wrong, and it was all going to my right side, and barely any in my left. I kept telling him when he was putting it in it was wrong. He insisted it wasn't. Well buddy, you aren't the one who can feel it going into your spine, are you? I had to lay on my left side to get it to drain over and get that side numb too. I was missing my old epidural guy from Lilly's birth.

I was only in labor for about 3 hours. I started feeling like I NEEDED to push. The nurses were laughing at me because she had checked me 30 minutes prior and I was only at 4 centimeters. I begged her to check me again. I told her I HAD to push. She laughed at me and said 'ok ok'. She finished what she was doing and took FOREVER. I was getting so impatient. I really really had to push. I was telling her it was time. Finally she got over to me she checked me and said 'oh my, it's time! I can feel his head!'. Bobby jumped up and was shocked. He couldn't believe it. He kept saying 'wait right now???' They called my Dr. and said to 'wait' because he was on his way. WHAT? I played this game last time, I'm not waiting! The nurse that was in there wasn't even the right nurse, she was just filling in until the other one got back from break or lunch or whatever she was doing. She wasn't even a L&D nurse. But she was probably the best one out of all of the nurses I've had during the baby having process. So my Dr. gets there, his name was Dr. Ibay. Little asian man. Very nice. He told me to push, and after 2 pushes, he was out! I didn't feel a thing! Literally pushed TWO times. Crazy isn't it?

My first look at him. He was so beautiful. He just... he just looked at me. He didn't cry or anything. He was so alert as to what was going on. He just looked in my eyes, like he was saying 'oh hi there mom. I'm out finally, what's up?'. He didn't start crying until they took him away from me and started wiping him off and sucking the stuff all out of his nose.

Our little family together. Ryan was with his mom on this day, and wouldn't bring him down to the hospital to see his new brother. He got to meet him a few days later when we came home and it was Bobby's parenting time. When he did see him he was very excited and happy. Lilly was so curious, and was just happy to see ME after not having me around since she woke up.

My sweet baby boy. I can't believe that I gave birth twice in the course of 13 months. Two beautiful, wonderful little babies. All mine. God has blessed me so. Welcome to the world, little Ethan. I can't wait to raise you, and see the man you will become, and the plan God has for your life. You are my sweet blessing. I can't believe I get to be your mommy. <3

Newborn Photo Shoot

2012-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

My sweet little boy. I know I haven't posted his birth story yet, I will very soon. But in the mean time, here are some of his 'photo shoot' pictures. Lisa came over to help me take some pictures of him. I had our photographer friend Kenny take newborn photos of Lilly when she was born, and this time we just couldn't swing it financially. I wanted to make sure he had some nice pictures of him though.

My parents did a really good job of making sure that my sister and I were treated equally. On our birthday's, we BOTH got presents (not an exorbant amount, but the non-birthday girl got something). I hope to make sure my kids realize they are all treated equally. So, I'm glad they both will have newborn photos.

So here is my sweet baby boy. I am by no means a photographer of any kind. My husband was kind enough to buy me a really wonderful DSLR camera last year, and I'm still learning to use it. I need to take a class or two on this DSLR stuff.

Those are the ones I've edited. Made brighter really. I didn't do much of anything else to teh pictures. I don't want to mess up the original. But isn't he just precious??

Furniture Makeover

2012-01-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

As a child, I had beautiful white furniture from my nursery. My mom had picked it out from Macy's when I was still in her belly, and my dad, obliged her wishes. The set, minus the crib of course, stayed with my sister and I throughout our childhood. The pieces evolved as we got older. My mom got pretty handy and decided she wanted to re-do them, because she no longer liked them white. She sanded them down until the white was gone.

Now, I have to explain that these dressers were not the present day sort of dressers with the pressed wood and the fake wood that looks like real wood glued on top of it. These dressers are solid wood. Very nice quality.

So back to my mom. She sanded them down, and put a beautiful natural stain on my big dresser, and added a pretty flower decal on the front of the drawers. My sisters dresser (the smaller of the two, and it was also a changing table) she got sanded, but never actually got around to finishing it. So there it sat. Unfinished, for about 13 years. My sister has since gotten married and moved on her own. She no longer had use for her dresser and left it with my mom. My mom, who has now downsized due to her babies leaving the nest, no longer had room for it. So guess who inhereted it??? Me!

I have to be honest, at first I didn't want it. I was thinking 'what the crap am I going to do with an unfinished dresser? and WHERE is it going to go??'. Lilly and Ethan share a bedroom. I have 2 cribs, my original dresser, and a changing table in there. They are comfortable, but there isn't a TON of space. (which, they don't need much space, they are babies, and Lilly plays in Ryan's room most of the time anyway). But there was no way I could fit a second dresser in there. NO WAY! I did some brain storming, and finally just came to the conclusion that I was going to have to finish the job my mom started so many years ago. However, the dresser in there already was stained a natural wood color. I don't like the lighter wood. I'm more of a cherry wood kind of girl. My whole house is cherry wood. So, I decided not only did I have to finish my sisters dresser, I was going to have to sand down my original dresser, and stain that one as well.

This project was a LOT of work! But I'm SO happy I went through with it and did it. It took me a couple of weeks to get the both of them done, and a little expertise from Lisa to make sure I didn't ruin these beautiful pieces, and in the end they turned out absolutely perfect. The first dresser I did was mine. I had to sand it all down (and boy was that a lot of work). Except, I didn't want to get rid of the pretty flower decals my mom put on the drawers. My mom never sealed her work, so I was able to just stain OVER the stain she already had on it. At first I was worried, but it came out beautiful. I don't have pictures of the first one, I know, I know I suck. The second one I took before and after pictures.

Here is the dresser all sanded down. I wish I had a picture of it all white... My mom might somewhere. Use your imagination.

Here it is after I got it stained. I ended up staining this dresser darker than my dresser. (more coats of stain). Which works out perfectly, because my dresser (which is on Lilly's side) matches Lilly's crib PERFECT, and this one, matches Ethans, whose crib is a tad darker than Lilly's. I took the changing table out of their room, and gave it to my sister (who is expecting!!) and I slapped the changing pad on top. I need to make a nursery post so I can show you all how totally cute I have set up their room.

This last picture is horrible, and it isn't even on this wall anymore. Moved it around! Like I said, I'll have to get a nursery post on here. But I'm so pleased with my project!! Huge thanks to Lisa who explained a lot to me with regards to how to actually stain furniture. Wood is complicated.

Ryan thinks of others

2011-12-23T02:31:00.001-08:00

This last week we went to see Santa (yes I WILL get caught up on my posts and get to that, but here is this to ride you over). I have been racking my brain for gifts for Ryan. Ryan... Well... You see, he doesn't really like 'toys'. He gets them, plays with it once or twice, then it goes into the never never land of his closet until Lilly pulls it out and drags it everywhere. The only thing he consistently plays with are action figures, and cars. Like those hot wheels. He still has toys in his closet in the BOX from LAST Christmas for crying out loud! We will ask 'Ryan do you want to play with X?' and he will say 'no'. Every time.

Anyway, so I asked him what he was going to ask Santa when we took the kids down to see him. Know what his answer was? 'a dirt bike (which his step dad has already told him he is getting him) and money'. I ask him 'why money? What will you buy?' his reply? 'I want to buy Noah a bike, and I want to buy Lilly some dolls'. Is he not the sweetest kid you have ever met??? Absolutely adorable.

He is such an amazing child. Here is a picture of him and his gingerbread house he made at school! Didn't he do a great job? Such a fun activity they had them do!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4th of July

2011-12-18T11:04:00.001-08:00

4th of July this year was spent like the majority of my 4th of July's have been spent for the past 10 years. With my second family. Jen has always graciously had me spend Independence Day with her family every year since I've lived her. This year, was no different. We had a really great day of spending time over at her parents house. The babies wore cute 4th of July outfits, we swam, ate some really great food, and did some fireworks.

Ryan loves his goggles that I got earlier this summer for him. He wears them in the tub, walking around the house, oh and of course, the pool. Haha. Lilly has taken to the pool like a fish. She is just like mommy! She loves to swim. I would put her on the edge of the pool and I'd count to 3 and she would JUMP off into my arms. She was laughing and having an absolute ball. (Like my emerald green pregnancy swim suit?? Sexy, isn't it? hahahha!)

We FINALLY have a kid who likes fireworks!! Ryan has always HATED fireworks. We got him CLOSE last year, but he was still deathly afraid of them. He would only watch them from indoors. He doesn't like the loud boom noises. Well, after a little coaxing this year, he actually was LOVING the sparklers! He was running around asking for more before the ones in his hand had even gone out. Yay! Finally! This year was a blast. We had a great time, Independence day with the Martin clan is always a great time.

Water Park Summer

2011-12-18T11:03:00.002-08:00

Thank GOD for the splash parks available at most parks here in LV. This summer would have been way more difficult than it was had it not been for the cool water parks here. Ryan got to run around and have fun, Lilly played a little bit, and I got to relax while my two crazy kids tired themselves out. The heat and being pregnant wasn't too much fun, but I at least got to sit and relax. Well, a little. Lilly is actually walking a bit more now, so having to chase after her if she got bold and got too far away from me. Ryan loves the water, of course. He's a pisces just like me. The ultimate water sign.

Um, isn't her bathing suit the cutest darn thing you have ever seen? I thought so...

Yup, there she is, about to take off. Cutest baby ever right there.

Lilly's First Birthday

2011-12-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is a whole year old. She has been the most happy baby I've ever seen. Everyone who meets her is captivated by her infectious smile and her all around charming disposition. I am so blessed to have such an amazing child. She is almost walking unassisted. She does sign language for about 15 words including please, thank you, apple, milk, eat, and all done. She loves her doggies and gives them open mouthed kisses every chance she gets. She loves her big brother and doesn't leave his side. She crawls all over the house following him everywhere he goes. Lilly bear crawls like a champ. She points to everything... always pointing.

For her birthday Bobby and I got her a splash table for the back yard. She is absolutely in love with it.

I had been planning her party for months before she turned 1. I came up with a 'Lilly in ONEderland' Theme. Everything was centered around that. I know she doesn't care and will never remember... but I wanted it to be perfect and extra special. I attempted to make her cake. That was a bit of a mommy fail righ there. It tasted great though!

The pictures are a bit out of order... sorry. Blogger makes it kind of difficult, so you're just going to have to get a jumbled account.

This was after the cake. She had it everywhere, so we plopped her in the sink. That didn't go over too well with her. She loves to take a bath, but she isn't used to the sink and I think it scared her. My poor girl was so sad.

And this is after the sink bath. All squeeky clean and in a new outfit. My dad (Papaw) got her this adorable outfit. I just love it.

I got a cute cupcake piniata for the big kids to play. We relied on the honor system in keeping your eyes closed.

I made a croquet court, where you hit the hedgehogs through the giant cards with blow up flamingos. Just like the movie....

We had silly hats for all

Giant cards all over the place

I made this really fun welcome sign by the front door. I worked really hard on this. Marvel at my awesomeness for a minute...

Ah, now we are to the cupcake part. She loved her cupcake, but she isn't a baby that likes to be messy. She was really upset once she realized she had all this stuff all over her. The tears started before she actually got in the sink. She is her mothers daughter that's for sure.

her birthday was a huge success. I couldn't have done it without the awesome help of Lisa with getting the cake done. It turned out much better than I had hoped. Everyone helped me with decorations, as I was pooped being 36 weeks pregnant and trying to get this all together. Lilly had fun, although she won't remember it. I certainly will. She ranked in on clothes that lasted her all summer long. Her brother had fun, and I am pretty sure everyone had a nice time. I hope this next year slows down a bit... she is getting too big too fast!

Lilly and Mommy's Adventure to Texas Part 1

2011-11-09T14:27:00.001-08:00

Ah, Texas. So many emotions run through me when I think about Texas. My daddy, and brother and his family live in Dallas. So we don't get to see eachother too often. But boy, when I do get to see them, nothing makes me happier. Lilly and I made a trip down there in May, just a few weeks before Ethan made his appearance. Bobby was stuck working, so it was just me and my baby girl.

I lugged that girl through the airport, through security, through the terminals and on a 3 hour plane ride TWICE, all while 33 weeks pregnant. I felt like superwoman. Seriously though, it wasn't an easy task, but I did it. Lets start at the begining. Oh, by the way, I labeled this part 1, because I don't know how far into this trip I'll get in this one blog post (I have a lot of pictures to share) and I don't want to leave anything out of this adventure we took. Not sure if there will be a part 2 or 3, we will see how far I get :-)

I had a 'baby in lap' ticket for Lilly. I was hoping to maybe not be on a booked flight, and then I'd ask someone to switch me spots so I could put her in the seat next to me so she could play. No such luck. You know how small airplane seats are, right? Well, picture me, 33 weeks pregnant, with an 11 month old squirming on my lap. My purse, and diaper bag were stuffed at my feet with her bottle stuff and diapers and toys. Oh, I promise you, that was the longest 3 hours of my life. She was actually great on the plane. My back was just not too

Lilly LOVED her Papaw! And I think it's safe to say he really enjoyed her. I would be in another room and hear him talking to her, laughing with her, and just genuinely enjoying her. It warmed my heart so much. I wish he could be closer so he could watch her grow and develop, see all the funny things she does on a daily basis.

She took her first real steps while we were in Texas. They all resulteed in quick falls, but my dad was delighted to see her trying so hard.

My amazing niece and nephew got to meet her finally. I love them so much! They are such great kids. I miss them all the time. I wish my whole family lived in one place so we could all enjoy one another.

It was my nieces birthday while we were visiting, so we had a small impromptu party for her. She had a FaBuLouS cake that my amazing sis in law Ashley got for her. She is an amazing step mom to these kids! My brother even got to come home from his job for a while! I was SO happy to see him!

My little Lilly bug was tired from our long trip. She passed out pretty quickly. Look how tiny she is in my dad's bed!

We had a great few days there, I'll finish this post with all the rest of our fun adventures another day!

Lilly 15 months

2011-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

My Lilly. She is walking all over, climbing on everything, and crawling under and into as many things she can. She just learned to drink through a straw a few days ago. She started getting Ethan's binkie for him when he cries and shoves it in his mouth. She dances when she hears music. She has started liking to cary a blankie around, especially when she can grab it off her little brother ;-). She loves to talk and play with anything that has buttons. She loves eating everything we eat. She loves the water, plays in her splash table outside, plays in the bath, loves to swim. She gets into the dog water as much as she can! She can go up and down the stairs like a champ. She lives to play with Ryan, he is her best friend. She got 6 teeth in 1month!! So many changes, she is growing into this silly, sweet little girl.

Not the most flattering picture, but she was making some yelling noises when I snapped this

Again, more yelling. She loves this bucket on her head... walks around with it hitting chairs and what not. It's pretty darn funny.

Do you see the profile on this child? Have you ever seen such a perfect little girl???

Blurry iPhone picture, but she loves her baby brother.

Circus

2011-11-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

Remember how Bobby got to take Ryan to the circus just after Lilly was born and I was super sad? Well I got a chance to go this time! Sad thing was, this time, Bobby had to work :-( Maybe next year we can get it together and ALL of us go?? Maybe?

So we bought tickets to go with Nana, Grumps, and Noah. Ryan had a blast. My favorite part was the tigers, and the elephants. Elephants are such amazing creatures to me. I would love to ride one someday. We sat and waited a bit after everyone left so we didn't have to fight traffic getting out. I didn't have to wait for a single car!

Splish Splash

2011-09-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

I bought Lilly a small baby pool. Nothing fancy, just something to put in the back yard that she can play around in. At first, she was a bit aprehensive about it. She just wanted to touch the water, put her toy car in it, you know just sort of hang out. So I took her clothes off and put her in it. She just sat there and looked at me. If she could talk she probably would have said something like 'mom what am I supposed to do now?'. So, I started splashing and hitting the water... then it was OVER. She realized it was just like the bath tub then and went to town.

I have probably 30+ more pictures that look just like this. She was hilarious to watch. The sun started to set, and it was breezy so it was a bit chilly out. I got her towel and dried her off. We went inside, but I left the sliding door open (because it was nice outside). I set her down in the kitchen with me while I got her bottle ready. No sooner did I take my eyes off her for one second and she was booking it outside to her pool again! I turned around after making her bottle, and she was GONE! I look outside, and there she is, in the middle of her pool, splashing like it was nobody's business. What a stinker! She cried when I took her out that time. What was I supposed to do though?! It was ninight time! So the next morning she stood at the glass door pounding on it to go out. So I did it right that time. Got her cute little swimming suit on, and off we went to the back yard.

I love this picture. So cute.

She loves her little pool

Back yard

2011-09-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

When we purchased our home, we bought it with an unfinished back yard. Being in Vegas, when you buy a house brand new, you pretty much never get the back yard landscaped unless you pay the builder to do it, and even then, most of the time they don't even offer that. So we bought the house, with decorative rock in the back yard. We have a decent size back yard, nothing spectacular, but compared to most back yards in Vegas that extend about 10 feet or less before you hit a wall, we got really lucky. So for the past year and a half, our back yard has looked like this

We wanted grass, but per our HOA, we cannot have an irrigation system. Neither Bobby or I have the patience to deal with watering it by hand every day, or even 2 days a week to keep it alive. So, we found some really nice, plush fake grass, that looks better than the real thing. It's thick, and feels nice on your feet. It doesn't look like that silly plastic fake crap. It's nice and long. We also got two planters on each side of the back wall. I want to grow some jalapenos and peppers and tomatoes back there. I have yet to do anything with it, because I'm so busy with the baby (YES I'm writing this SUPER late) but I plan on getting on the ball in the spring once he is old enough to sort of fend for himself ;-)

Ryan has been asking about getting grass in our back yard since we moved in. He was SO happy to get it. We had a sample square in our junk drawer in the kitchen (Doesn't everyone have one of those??) and he would periodically get it out and rub his hand over it and ask 'so, when can I get my grass for the back yard?'. Once the grass was laid, he went out and tried to make grass angles. Ha! too funny this kid is.

So here is the finished product! We have a nice patio area and the middle is just perfect. I'm so happy I get to go outside and just ENJOY my back yard finally! Hubs like it, the kids love it, and the dogs I think secretly love it as well. ;-)

Mother's Day

2011-07-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day this year was very special to me... it was my first year of being a mommy. Bobby has always acknowledged this day for me for being a pseudo-mom to Ryan, and last year I was pregnant, but this year I actually have my own little baby that calls me mom. Being a mommy for the past year has been nothing I would have ever imagined. It has been hard, and trying, and at times I just wanted to lock myself in a closet... but you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. My little girl is THE biggest most amazing blessing I've ever received. She is the light of the world. I'm so blessed. I also am blessed with some of my own awesome mommy's! MY mommy of course, who is amazing. I don't know how she raised us all those years alone without being committed at some point. I'd lose my mind if it weren't for Bobby. I have such a deeper respect for her and the unconditional love she has always had for us no matter what. I have a great mom-in-law who was an amazing parent to my husband, leaving him with a great skills to be a wonderful dad. I also have another 'mom' who I've been blessed to have in my life the past 3 years. She my not be my 'mom' but I look to her in that respect. Lisa is one of the most caring people I think Ive ever met. She and Greg have opened their home to me when they didn't have to. She has supported Bobby and I from the begining, which was a surprise in and of itself. Most of all, she has accepted being a Nana to babies that have no blood relation to her at all, she has no obligation, and yet she adores Lilly and treats her like gold. I can't express how in awe I am of her ability to love and accept.

So to all my mom's Happy Mommy's day

OH I almost forgot, that on Mother's Day, Lilly was dedicated to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, in our church! She wore a lovely pink dress that my daddy sent to her. The prayer that day was absolutely beautiful and brought me to sobbing tears. Just beautiful. Grammie, and Nanna came to watch. She loved having people she loves there with her.

Bobby's an old man...

2011-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Or so he likes to tell everyone. In all actuality, he is a spry 25 years old. (As long as we can keep him out of the surgery room we are good!) I planned a BBQ at the houe for his birthday. I wanted it to be bigger, nicer, and I intended it to have a lot more planning... but honestly? I was just too tired and too pregnant to do so. I'm a bad wife :-( Sorry husband, next year we will make up for both of our birthdays.

The BBQ was, however, a success!! Lots of friends came and celebrated with us. And this year, no dogs ate the cake before the candles got put on it! Yay! I don't remember if I bogged about it (probably not because like this pregnancy, the last pregnancy I barely blogged. I'm blaming it onpregnancy) but Emmett ATE about 3/4 of Bobby's beautiful cake I made last year. Darn dog. I made sure to keep it out of their reach this year. 10 points for me!

So I barely have any pictures, I was busy getting food and what not for people, and thanks to Jen I have a few. Like I said, I'm totally blaming being pregnant on my lack of awesome for this party.

2011-07-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

See that handsome boy right there? Yup, he did T-ball this spring. He had a BLAST! My only complaint was the red dirt... but we kept it pretty clean in the cars/house. lol. He had a great season playing for a team called the Braves. It happens to be Uncle Anthony's favorite team as well, so he was SO excited for Ryan to play. He custom made him a helmet for when he bats. It has a cool Braves style A on the front and 'Erdman' on the side. Suffice to say, Ryan had THE coolest gear out of everyone else.

Ryan picked the number 5 this year. Because you know, he's 5 years old now and all. Big stuff. Ryan was so great at T-ball we are all very proud. He can accurately throw, and catch. However, he knew that no one else would catch the ball when he would throw it, so he started getting the ball, and running to first base to get someone out. He got tired of other kids not catching his balls. ;-) The funny thing was when he would be second base and would STILL run the ball to first to get a kid out. Bobby has an awesome video on his phone of him sliding into home. I'll have to see if I can grab it and copy it on to the computer.

The last day they had a nice little party for them with food and drinks, and also handed out these cool litle trophies! It's a bobble head. So stinkin' cute.

We have football coming up in the fall, he says he wants to play. Oh my...

Random April Pictures

2011-07-19T10:38:00.001-07:00

Lilly 10 Months Old

2011-07-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Lilly is just getting so big. I keep saying that, perhaps trying to convince myself it’s going to just stop. I know, no need to tell me. *sigh* Not happening… A mommy can dream, right? So here is Lilly during the month of April. Trust me, I have a zillion more. I’ll just give you my top 10ish for now. ;-)

She started giving kisses this month... but only does it when SHE wants to. Stubborn girl.

Loves to look at herself in the mirror. Here she is at Karate.

She loves plaing in the doggie cages. She crawled intoBella's, and got stuck. She was not happy. She now sticks to hanging out in the big cage.

She has taken a step. Nothing major. Just one. She bear crawls everywhere. She is darn fast too! Butt up in the air and she is off! I'm trying to teach her the baby sign language. Not doing so well so far... I'll keep you updated.

New Toys

2011-06-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

My husband. God love him. He loves cars. Loves them. Well, he has run out of things to do to his vehicle. (Thank you JESUS!). With the recent re-build that was needed due to his motor blowing up, there is next to nothing left to add or upgrade. So, he did what any other self respecting man does, and found a new hobby. Of course, it has to do with, you guessed it, cars. He has picked up playing with those really fast race track remote control cars. He got one for himself and Ryan. They love them. They play with them all the time. Ryan is loving doing yet another activity with his daddy and Bobby loves being able to do something they both love together. PLUS, he gets to upgrade his car! Add new motors and tires and God only knows what else. At least he has healthy hobbies. At least he isn't out doing dumb things. He does constructive fun things with Ryan and things that keep his mind busy. I have such a good husband =]

Lilly and Karli

2011-06-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

A late March picture to share of the two of them at one of our play dates

Peanutbutter Jelly Time!

2011-06-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

Bobby had a great idea to put peanut butter on Ryan's face, and have the dogs lick it off. I was apprehensive, but once Ryan heard the idea, he wouldn't let it rest. So, we did what any other awesome set of parents would do. We smothered his face with peanutbutter and let the dogs have at it. We were all in hysterics laughing so hard.

Camo Belt

2011-06-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

In March Ryan tested for his Camo Belt! He was a bit sad to be leaving his cheetah belt behind, but was excited for something new at the same time. He told me he was sad because as a cheetah, he could run really fast and if he got a new belt, he wouldn't be able to run like a cheetah anymore. I explained to him that he got to keep everything he learned before, and just because he was a new belt, that his cheetah belt powers wouldn't go away. (kids, so darn funny). He was really happy with that explanation, so he was ready to go when it came time to test.

he did his one step all on his own, and was great at all his moves in his form. He is such a little character to watch when he gets all serious and ready to perform for everyone. He does so great, and I'm so excited to see how amazing at this sport he is going to be when he is older!

The next night he was awarded his new belt. Can you tell he was excited? I could barely get him to sit still for 2 seconds to take a victory picture. And there you have it, our little camo belt.

1st time at the park

2011-06-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last fall, we discovered a small, hidden away little park not too far from our house. A few miles. It has beautiful trees, a nice culdesac to ride bikes and scooters, a nice little playground, and a LOT of grass. It is a bit older, not like one of the brand new parks with a splash park attached or anything, but a quaint, sweet park for a nice spring or fall afternoon to have a picnic at. My mom came over to play and we took the kids to the park.

This was Lilly's first swing experience. She has been to the park before, I guess my title is missleading, it was just the first time she has been able to DO anything at the park.

She absolutely loved the swings

After the park, Ryan wanted to teach Grammie how to play his video games. My mom is what I like to call 'technology challenged'. She just recently learned how to do text messaging. lol. So Ryan finally settled for showing her what the buttons do instead of having her play with him. He got a little impatient. haha!

One more of my sweet pea enjoying the swings

9 months old

2011-06-12T12:04:00.003-07:00

Easter

2011-06-12T12:04:00.001-07:00

This Easter was Lilly's very first one! I feel a little bad, because I didn't make her a basket or anything. She is a baby, she has no idea what is going on, so I sort of skipped it. I know I know, worst mom ever award right? I felt even MORE bad when Nana made a cute one up for her. ;-) Darn you NaNa!!! haha.

Uncle Ben and Auntie Erika came over the night before to color eggs. We had a nice time trying to combine different colors to make new colors. We had a small misshap, and I now have a nice orange stain on my carpet. *sigh* Next year we will do this in the garage. haha!

The next morning we woke up, and the Easter bunny had come to visit our house!! Ryan was very excited about finding eggs. He remembered that the Easter bunny had left eggs in the blinds last year, and he was quite pleased with himself when he saw they were there again.

Do you see that green egg, just sitting on the coffee table? Well, Ryan missed it. Probably walked past it 5 times looking desperately for more eggs. We even started telling him 'hot' and 'cold'.

Princess is crawling around wondering what all the fuss was about, and why mommy was snapping pictures left and right.

And that's when she saw it. The green egg. Ryan turned around and exclaimed 'where did she get that?!'. Well Ryan, she saw it sitting in plain sight, right on the coffee table. He was a bit miffed he had missed it. He tried to put it in his basket and we had to explain that LILLY found it, that he had plenty more to find. Ahhhh, the sharing... he is learning ;-)

And the next thing we knew, she had busted it open. yummmmy jelly beans! (Don't worry, I took them away asap, I just wanted a few pictures first)

And these were the best pictures I could get of them later that morning. *sigh* we are going to have to work on this whole 'posing' thing. They have PLENTY of years to practice!! *insert evil laughter here*. Mommy is a picture taker, they are gonna have to learn and smile nice and complain about it later. hehehe

Lilly girl had a great first Easter and Ryan had a nice suggar filled day as well. ;-)

We spent the morning at church, then the park, and then home for some nice family time.

Baseball

2011-06-12T12:03:00.002-07:00

Ryan's new sport you ask? Why, that would be baseball!

Ok ok, so it was really T-ball, details details. He did an amazing job during T-ball season! He was a natural at it. Amazing accuracy with throwing the ball where it needed to go (although, no one else was coordinated enough to actually catch it, lol). He definitely is a gifted boy!

He loved being pitcher most of all. Of course, he didn't actually pitch the ball, but he sure loved standing on the mound, kicking dirt off the base and playing in the dirt (BOYS!). He loved being able to get to the ball first. He would go running (even further than he should) to get it and try to throw it to get the person out. He would get SO frustrated when the person didn't (ever) catch the ball. After a few games of this happening, he took matters into his own hands. He would get the ball, then RUN as fast as he could to first base to get the person out. He didn't trust anyone else to get the job done because no one caught the ball! He is too funny.

It was a great season. At the end of the season, they threw a nice little party for the kids. They got really neat bobble head trophies for all their hard work. He can't wait for the next sport. He keeps talking about tennis. Hmm... guess we're going to have some decision making to do!

March Random Pictures

2011-06-11T09:21:00.001-07:00

Ketsup on the shirt after a corn dog. Love it. *insert eye roll* I'm gonna stop buying the kid white! lol ;-)

Bobby wanted to see waht she would do in her swing. She hung out for like 5 minutes and played with her toes. then she was over it. *SIGH* no more newborn baby, we have a big girl now.

New Camera

2011-06-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

Hubbs bought me a new camera.

Can we just say LOVE!???!!

It takes AMAZING pictures. It is a Nikon D3000. Basically the first beginner camera in the DSLR family of cameras.

I'm learning a few things here and there about it. I can't wait to really sink my teeth into it though. Photography is something that has been a quiet passion of mine for years now. I just never had the time/energy to do it. Well, I really want to dedicate some of my time to it. I've decided that I'm going to take a photography class this fall. Among other classes to finish my degree... that's a different post though.

I'm loving using it and getting to be more familiar with the buttons and what all the modes are. Hopefully I can take some nice snap shots to share with our family.

Highchair

2011-06-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

We finally invested in a highchair. Woohoo! No more trying to feed her on the floor where she just crawls away from me when she gets bored. The dogs were starting to swarm us and try to get her food. It was a nightmare. So I buckled down and got a higchair. I really wanted the cute girly one, but I know this little man inside my belly might not like having to use it when it's his turn. So I got a monkey one :-) It fits fine because Lilly is DEFINITELY a monkey!

She looks so little in it. I feel like she is just going to fall out at any moment! I know, not going to happen. She is just such a small baby. She thinks it's fun to share with the dogs. She holds her snack up then watches as it falls to the ground. She will look over the side first to make sure there is someone there to retrieve the package once it's delivered. Ugh. Emmett has made a habit of standing right at the front, and Lilly will grab a snack, then put it down by her leg and he rushes in to get it. Darn sharing baby! I keep telling her 'no sharing with the puppies!' but she doesn't listen. Fun times. If you see her sippy cup on the highchair, don't be fooled. She isn't really using it yet. She puts it up to her mouth, she mighht get a couple of drops, but she doesn't understand the 'sucking' it out yet.

Edit: She learned the 'sucking' pretty quickly. She is a good sippy user, but still loves her milk that she still gets in a bottle. My baby girl. She is just getting bigger and bigger and doing more and more every day.

Karli is 1!

2011-06-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer, I look absolutely horrid in this picture, but I have to post it for Lilly and Karli's sake. I have no idea why I was positioned to look as 'special' as I look here. Ignore me, look at the babies.

Yes, this is another birthday post. I think we are done with birthday's for a while. Well, at least until May when it's Bobby's birthday.

Little Karli is 1 now. She was born on MY birthday actually. :-D My how much has changed in a year.

Jen has been my best friend since highschool. Our mom's always used to tease us 'you girls have to do everything together'. We worked together, we did martial arts together, we hung out (duh) every weekend, we always had to have double dates... etc. She has been one of the people that I confide in most for the last 10 years of my life. So when she told me she was pregnant I was nothing short of overjoyed.

So of course, the teasing started of 'well now that Jen's pregnant guess you aren't too far away from it!'. I goffed at these people. Really? Come on now... Well, 3 months later guess who got pregnant? Yep, this guy.

Anyway, Karli is 3 months older that Lilly, and it has been SO fun to watch them together and watch them both grow over the past year. (Lilly 9 months). Karli walks and says mama and dada and 'dog' and 'that'. She is so smart! She is a sweetheart just like her mommy. Jen and Matt have done a terrific job in raising her the past year. They are great parents. I look up to her in so many ways when it comes to parenting. So here is to Karli, who we got the priviledge to celebrate her first birthday with!

We totally didn't plan the matchy matchy thing. I guess we are just that awesome that we knew what to wear. ;-)

Happy first birthday Karli!

Ryan is 5

2011-05-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ryan turned 5 this year. My oh my how this boy has grown. He is so incredibly smart, he picks up on more than anyone realizes. He is so very sweet, yet he's strong. I can't wait to see this young man grow into the person he is becoming. We are so very proud of him and all that he does. He is one of the funniest people I've ever met. He always has hilarious things to say. He is a great big brother to his little sister. He loves her very much and is so sweet with her. I can't express my sheer joy and happiness that I have in being able to help raise him.

This year given a few choices, Ryan decided he wanted his birthday party at Skymania. For those who don't know, Skymania is basically a warehouse full of trampolines all put together. It is SO fun! We invited a few of Ryan's close friends and they all had an absolute ball. When I called (2 weeks prior) to set up the party, they were already full for birthdays that day! So we ended up back at grandma's house to do presents, food and cake. It turned out great! Ryan had a blast with his friends and the grown ups had a great time watching him be crazy.

The grandpa's

fighting over the ball

3 musketeers

We were being attacked

Ryan and Grandpa

Lilly and Uncle Noah

I made it allll by myself! My vision was a tad different than how it turned out. *sigh*. I'll get it one of these days.

It was a really fun time, and I think Ryan had a blast. That's all that matters!

Quarter-of-a-Century

2011-05-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

This year, I turned 25. I had some reservations about it. It's odd. It feels odd... I know, people are shaking their heads at me and rolling their eyes. But I mean really. We're growing up. It's like another new stage in life. I know numbers don't mean anything, and I know there are 25 year olds all around livin' the party life and acting like they are 18 still. And that's fine for them. I feel like a grown up now finally though. I feel like I've entered this previously impeneterable realm of adulthood. Maybe like people take me seriously now? Anyway, I'm 25 now. We enjoyed dinner at a mexican resturant with family and friends. It was a quaint celebration, but it was great :-)

My husband...

2011-05-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

I just have no other words.

8 Months

2011-05-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

In February Lilly turned 8 months old. She is growing into such a funny little person. I love every little thing she does. I could just sit and watch her for hours. (which I have to sometimes tear myself away from doing at times)

She is a little crawler. She goes everywhere! She is starting to try to climb ON to things now. Any box that looks low enough she attempts to get on top of. She crawls over Emmett when he is blocking her now. She is a strong little girl. She has discovered the dog food bowl. She crawls to the darn kitchen every chance she gets now. Dog food. Yum...

She started eating solids. Sort of. I finally found something she will eat. She loves the organic baby food that is in the pouches. Which is a plus for me because they are NO MESSES! However, getting her to sit in her little chair and eat is becoming more and more difficult. I see needing a highchair very soon in our future. She will take a few bites then crawl away from me. Or she will wiggle out of her Bumbo seat. The dogs try to lick her after every bite. It's becoming an 'issue'. High chair; ASAP!

She is starting to realize what we are 'doing'. Like, the things we're holding or using. She is noticing what her brother is doing most of all. Whatever he might have, she is very interested in it. She like to 'help' Ryan play video games. *snicker*. He tells her "Lilly, you can WATCH me! NO touching! Video games aren't for babies...". It's probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Valentines Day

2011-05-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm way behind. I'm trying to catch up!!

Valentines day this year was a little different from ones in the past. We had an infant this year. No fancy schmancy dinner (well besides the one I cooked. haha), no night out on the town, just hubby and me. And the baby. haha! Actually we had a really nice Valentines day this year. Lilly goes to bed early so we still get 'us' time.

I made Bobby his favorite steak in the entire world. It's a marinade that our friend Taryn makes. It's a secret family recipe (pssshh... whatever) so whenever we want it we have to ask. ;-). I aquired a batch of marinade from her and had our steaks getting all yummy for about 24 hours before I cooked them. Mashed potatoes and asparagus accompanied the steak.

For our first dessert, I made a homemade chocolate mousse that was INCREDIBLE. I'll have to post the link where I got the recipe if I can find it. It was absolutely to die for. Very rich, but oh so good. Topped with hand whipped whipping cream by yours truly. I also made hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries and bananas.

Hubby got me a new Coach bag. I'm a sucker for Coach. I just love the brand.

It was a wonderful day. I look forward to the rest of our years together. =]

Superbowl 2011

2011-05-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Bobby's family are all Packers fans. To say they are fanatics, would be an understatement. I wish I had a picture of their game room. Packer stuff EVERYWHERE! So when they won their last game and went to the superbowl, they were all beyond pumped.

We went over to watch and be good sports (Cowboys didn't make it to the Superbowl, yet again *sigh*). It was a fun day! Everyone went NUTS when they won. Jon almost cried. lol.

Lilly's first superbowl! She couldn't fit in her Dalas onesie's anymore :-(

My handsome hubby and myself. My boobs don't fit in my jersey, but he got to wear his.

Uncle Jonny taught Lilly how to high five!

Grandma was holding food to make her look. haha!

Fun day, great food, awesome family. Now, Cowboys, lets pick it up next year!

Circus!

2011-04-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

In February, we went to the circus! Ok ok, so we were SUPPOSED to go to the circus. Bobby ended up taking Ryan and I stayed home with Lilly. She was being a bit of a stinker butt. But they had a great time! It was a non-animal circus, so he didn't get to see any elephants or lions, but there were quite a few tallented people there! Ryan got his face painted like a cat while he was there. I hope I get to attend next year! Looked like fun! :-)

7 Months old!

2011-04-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lilly was 7 months old January 6th! She *started* liking her tummy. She will at least push herself up now.

She loves her baths! She sits up all on her own now and plays. She loves bubbles.

She finally decided she didn't like being in her infant seat while at the store, and she sits in the cart like a big girl But if it's bottle time, she is lazy and will lay down in the cart. haha!

She is just the apple of my eye. I can't get enough of her.

New Addition

2011-04-05T08:04:00.001-07:00

Well, a few days after Christmas, we were surprised by a new member of the family. Bobby was working on his car in the garage, and some people were going door to door asking if a puppy was theirs. They explained that they had almost hit her coming into our development. They also expressed that they couldn't take her home with them, because they had a mean dog that didn't get along with others. Bobby offered to take her in until the owners could be found.

We put up signs in our community, we called animal hospitals, we even took her into Petsmart and they scanned her 5 times for a chip. All to no avail. No one claimed her. The veterenarian told us she was a purebread Boxer and was absolutely perfect. She had no health issues or anything. If I had to guess, it being 3 days after Christmas, she was a Christmas gift, and got out and lost. I feel bad for whoever owned her, but she made it to a good home. Bobby is thrilled, as he has been wanting a boxer for EVER. He wanted one before I even got Bella.

Ryan loves her, Lilly tollerates her, and I roll my eyes. ;-)

If I can get her to stop eating everything and digging holes under the fence and peeing inside, we can be friends.

Christmas

2011-01-22T10:23:00.003-08:00

Christmas this year was extra special for our family. It was our first Christmas with our amazing blessing, Lilly.

Santa was good this year, better than I thought he was going to be able to be, infact. Ryan was excited about his gifts, and was very sweet in helping Lilly (read: doing it for her) open her gifts. He is one of the best big brothers I've seen. he loves his baby sister.

I got hubby the playstation move, and both of them new games to go with it.

And Santa brought Ryan his nerf gun he has been asking for. He must have been a good boy this year :-)

He was really excited to get his starwars lightsabers. I mean, really excited.

We were surrounded by awesome family all day. Bobby's dad and step mom came over in the morning to bring the kids even MORE stuff and visit for a while. It was really good to see them.

Next up we went over to grandma's house! Carol and Jon prepared a beautiful and delicious ham. Erika and I helped with the side dishes. we were all stuffed! Good food + family is always awesome.

Later, we went to visit Nana and Dumps. We had a full day this year, that's for sure. There they got even MORE... man, talk about ranking in this year. They SURE did! We spent a nice evening over there and enjoyed the company and laughs.

This Christmas was probably one of my favorites so far. I know, we have many more to go, but it was truly just a wonderful day, spent with the people we love the most.

Christmas Lights

2011-01-22T10:22:00.002-08:00

Just before Christmas this year, we went Christmas light hunting! One of my friends had stumbled uppon a house with hundreds of thousands of lights. Not kidding.

They have over 100,000 LED lights. They have a working ferris wheel that is all lit up. They begin putting up lights before Halloween! The couple who do it are older, 68 to be exact. Do you know of anyone of that age that can accomplish this? It's quite amazing.

They have music all corresponding with the lights that blink and dance. It's quite amazing. I'm trying to upload a video but blogger isn't letting me. I'll try to come back and add it later. We will definitely be going back next year!

We went to a few other houses, but none compared to this house!

Cosmopolitain

2011-01-22T10:22:00.001-08:00

Bobby recently got a new job doing valet at the Cosmopolitan casino on the strip. We were so excited when he got the news! It was such a huge blessing, as he got to quit working at FedEx finally. That job was back breaking and he hated it. Cars are his thing, so getting to drive an array of different cars every night is right up his alley. It's good to see him enjoy what he is doing and I'm so proud of him. We still have our school open, that isn't impacted at all, so it works well for now.

Just before their big grand opening, they had to do a dry run of all the employee's. The held an event during the weekend where all the employees got to bring one person and enjoy the 'package' that they picked. Every employee picked a 'package'. Each package was different. Some had nights stay in a room, some had valet parking, different resturants were in each packet, and everyone got a different amount of money (play money hehe) to gamble with. Bobby drew a package that gave us $1,000 each to gamble with, and dinner at the best steak house in the world. Not kidding, this steak house STK, is rated #1 steak house in the world right now.

We had reservations at STK and we were both READY. We get there, and low and behold, our reservation was canceled. :-( apparently, they had overbooked. So they randomly canceled people. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. They told us we could go to any other place for dinner. We settled on a nice burger place. Food = awesome. I had a great burger as did Bobby. Their milkshakes are to die for. Soooo yummy.

After dinner we took a tour of the WHOLE place. Well, Bobby played tour guide, as he had been there every day through every inch of the place for weeks at that point. The pool area is BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely gorgeous. It's on the roof, so you have a view of the strip from up high. I can't find pictures I took of it on my phone. I think those pictures are part of the bunch that I lost with this last restore of my phone :-/. I'm sure you can look online for some pictures of it. There are like 3 different levels of pools. The main pool area is the biggest and they put concerts on out there. Then there is a smaller area but just as beautiful, then you go really upstairs and there is a beautiful pool with jacuzzi's with waterfalls that are gorgeous. I'm sad I don't have my pictures. :-( The third pool is connected to the nightclub. The nightclub is massive! I'm sure the nights they have are fun because there is so much space and lots of room to dance.

After walking EVERYWHERE, Bobby and I went downstairs to gamble. As we were at a Texas Hold Em table, someone walked by and handed us their money vouchers. $10,000 worth! So we cashed them in and went to the high roller area. So fun. We spent about an hour gambling and then gave all our left over money to the people at the craps table we were playing at. We were tired and ready to go home! It was a great night, though. We had so much fun.

Ryan's first soccer season ends

2011-01-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Ryan finished his soccer season at the begining of November. They had a 'field day' the night before his last games. They had bounce houses, food, and soccer games. There were kids in soccer jersies EVERYWHERE! Ryan was running around having a blast. He has made a few new friends from soccer and I think it has been such a positive experience for him.

always making new friends wherever he goes. This was one of the bounce houses the night before at field day

Running in his last game

Ryan's soccer coach giving him his medal

He was really excited that his soccer ball on his trophy twirled.

It was a really positive fun experience for him. I'm so glad he got the chance to do it. He still asks about when he gets to do soccer again! I think he just misses his friends. hehe :-)

Springs Preserve & Halloween

2010-12-17T11:45:00.001-08:00

We took the kiddies to Springs Preserve for some trick-or-treating just before Halloween. Springs Preserve is one of my favorite places to go for various holidays. They always have great stuff for the kids. Last year Ryan loved it, so we went back this year. We brought some of our friends, Jen Jen and Matt brought little Karli, and Bobby's friend Keith and his family came with their daughter, Vanessa.

They had great games for the kids. Ryan loved playing all the stuff they had there for him.

Ryan and Vanessa have a great time together whenever we get together. Vanessa was Little Red Riding Hood. She was absolutely adorable!

Mommy's little pumpkin!

Daddy, trying to get Lilly to not be sad.

I loved Ryan's bear costume this year. LOVED it. It was warm and comfortable. He was just adorable in it.

Erdman Clan - Halloween 2010

Halloween Party

2010-12-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

This year's karate Halloween party was QUITE the success. We were a tad worried, because the elementary school and the rec center were all holding their own parties the same day and time. We had SO many kids in the school, it almost wasn't big enough! We had some great costumes and a lot of fun games.

I waited way too long this year to get us all costumes. We didn't get to be our themes like we have been in the past years. :-( I'm shooting for next year. This year, I was Betty Rubble (from the flinstones). I put my hair in a really cute bob, it turned out awesome. Hubs was one of the blue guys from Avatar. His mask was scary as crap! He walked into our room as I was getting ready, and both dogs started going crazy barking at him! He removed the mask and they were looking at him like 'what the heck man??'.

The Esparza twins had, I think, the most awesome costumes of everyone!

My sister came and brought her sister in law and her kids. We're all family, doesn't matter. Monica looked great as a dead nurse! She is such a pretty girl. I didn't get a picture of her other daughter (Lili, her's not mine) which was unfortunate. She looked great too!

Ryan and Gage won 'cutest costume'. I have to admit, Ryan sure was darn cute in his little bear costume! He and Gage were both quite deserving of the award!

We had a really awesome evening. I baked cupcakes and we had pizza for everyone. I already can't wait for next Halloween! I LOVE Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-12-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

I know, this post is late. I KNOW!!

Lisa came over to help us carve pumpkins with Ryan. Ryan was as enthusiastic this year as he was last, if not more. He couldn't wait to get his little butter knife set out so he could help! (hehehe)

He realized the goop was a little gross, so he asked Nana to do it for him. haha!

Nana brought over boy scouts popcorn, and Lilly was ready to try some! She tried her hardest to get in that darn bag... lol

Ryan and his Cat-in-a-boot. He was very proud and couldn't wait to put a candle in it. I totally forgot to take a picture of my really awesome haunted house. It was AMAZING! I suck :-(

Next year I plan to step up my pumpkin carving and try something really hard. lol.

Pumpkin Patch [2010]

2010-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Fall

I love Fall. I don't like the cold aspect of it, as I absolutely adore my summer sun, but after so many months of blistering heat, I reluctantly give in and start welcoming the change. The only thing that really gets me through knowing that my love affair with the sun is over until next year, is knowing that Halloween is just around the corner. Halloween for some reason or another is one of my favorite holidays. It may be because my mom HATES Halloween and only did the bare minimum of it while we were growing up, it may be because I love being silly and dressing up, or it may be that secretly I like getting scared. None the less, I love Halloween and all that encompasses it. The parties, the pumpkin carving, and the food!!

This year is Lilly's first Halloween! I couldn't wait to get the kids to a pumpkin patch and start snapping away with my camera.

Best kids in the worldf

Ryan and his funny faces

My beautiful little pumpkin!

Lilly's first ever pumpkin patch.

At this point, she was over it, though.

Me and the hubs. I love him so.

Ryan absolutely LOVED this. He kept screaming 'I'm spider man! I'm spider man!' and making pretend webs. The guy who was bouncing him was really awesome and made the ride a fun experience for him. comepare this to 2 years ago...

I don't have a picture of him crying hysterically, because by that time I was running up and grabbing him to calm him down, but 2 years ago ALL he wanted to do was go on this thing. We waited in line for 2 hours! He got up there, and I think got intimidated, but was hysterical. Poor thing :-( I was worried we were going to have a repeat this year.... BUT He did it! And he LOVED IT! Look how big he is getting :-( What happened to the little 2 year old that used to point to the sky and say 'aiwpwane!' and 'bite' when he wanted to eat something. Time goes by too quick.

We loved the pumpkin patch. It was a cute, family owned place. It had wood chips all over the ground to give it a nice cute feeling, pumpkins EVERYWHERE of all different sizes, and of course, lots of fun things for the kids to do. We had a great time!

Finally!

2010-11-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Erika and Ben have been trying to close on their house since April. Yes, APRIL! They went through a lot of ups and downs, a lot of uncertainty, then some rock solid certainty. They were told to move into their house before the actual paperwork was done, because it was only a matter of days. Well, 3 months after they moved in they finally closed on their home! (Man I wasnt 3 months of free mortgage! lol). They live only a few minutes away from us and we are so proud and excited for them. It's a very cute little house, and Erika did a GREAT job of decorating it and making it nice and cozy. There is one sad part to the story, however. They did close, but they closed, literally, the day after the tax credit cut off deadline. SO frustrating! But we are very glad that it all got done. Congratulations Erika and Ben!

100th post!

2010-11-06T21:37:00.001-07:00

This is our blog's 100th post! We've done so many fun things, and have experienced a lot the past year and a half. I hope you all have enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing!

Here's to 100 more posts. I can't wait to share more of our memories with all of you.

Lilly - 3 months

2010-10-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Lilly during her 3rd month of life. Isn't she just a doll? I love her so much. She is my greatest accomplishment in life.

She started to discover the toys abover her finally. She started batting at objects.

Angel Baby

Self Portrait

2010-10-23T22:04:00.001-07:00

These are the types of pictures I get when I go through my memory card after Ryan has been playing with my camera.

Snakes. Ewwww

2010-10-23T21:57:00.001-07:00

So, Bobby & Ryan found a friend in our driveway.

Ew.

Ok, he does look kinda cool. Bobby says he was a king snake. Whatever that is. He said he wasn't poisonous and wanted to keep him. ha.

I made them release him into the wilderness. The desert behind our house was the perfect place. The boys were bummed, but I have enough of a zoo to take care of. ;-)

Geocaching

2010-10-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Geocaching.

Have you ever heard of it?

It's the coolest thing since sliced bread!!! It is pretty much a treasure hunt for adults. Well, kids too. It's for everyone. What people do is they hide little canisters all over the world. They enter the coordinants of where it is at in the database, and then you are able to get the coordinates to find what was hidden! Some are very very small, some are big! You can leave little things in some of them if they are big enough, and some are so small that all there is is the log. OH! The log. Well, in each geocache, there is a log left. You can write your name on it and it's amazing to see the number of people who have signed these!

So, I found out about this, and I figured we HAD to do it. I asked Ryan if he wanted to go treasure hunting, and he was all for it! Husband was a little less than enthusiastic... he doesn't see the point unless you get something out of it, like money. Ugh... he came along none the less.

So I downloaded the app to my iPhone (because who can do anything without their phone now a days right?) and it showed me that there were 3 right within a half a mile of our house! Awesome! So we set out walking.

We got to the other side of our wall from our housing comunity, and the title of this geocache was 'a bugs life'. We spent about 3 minutes looking and then Bobby had an idea to look inside one of the little canister things that holds the extra irrigation hoses. And low and behold there it is!!

It was a roach. haha! It was plastic. Sticking out of it had the log. This one was classified as 'micro'. Because it's so small.

We walked about another half a mile and looked for the second one. I had a really really cute picture of me and Ryan when we found it. But I took it on my phone, and my phone took a poop a couple of weeks ago and the memory was wiped. :-(. The title was 'yellow submarine' and the canister was a cute little yellow thing. It was about the size of a large drinking glass.

My mom and I have found a few. It's a silly little game, but people do it all over the world! Check out the website, it's really fun! I bet you could find a few within a mile of your house.

Primary Program

2010-10-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

We went to church with Lisa, Greg and Brandy a few weeks ago to watch Ryan in his primary program. He was SO handsome!

Soccer

2010-10-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, Ryan is weeks into his soccer playing. He is loving it. He has had a lot of fun. His teamates are great, and he seems to play with them well. He has had a few funny moments while playing. He has grabbed the ball and sat on it in the middle of a play, he has grabbed it and held it with his hands, he has kicked the ball the wrong direction, he has been hilarious really. Everyone loves coming to watch him and cheer him on.

Side kicks, in soccer?

Ryan leading the pack

That's Ryan. On the ground. Holding the ball. Yup. haha

Bobby is assistant coach, and I think it's been great that he's so involved in everything Ryan has going on. It's great bonding time.

Ryan is #4 Just like his Auntie Erika was! So was his grumps when he played soccer. It's crazy how my family has this weird thing with numbers. Ryan loves the number 4, because he is 4. I wonder if it will change to 5 once he has his birthday... hmm...

Little girls need their daddy's... and so do big girls

2010-10-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

My dad came into town recently. I have been so blessed with some great parents. They may be a little crazy, (we all have our moments right?!) and they may be a little difficult sometimes (I kid I kid!) but I love them all the same. My mommy lives 10 minutes away, so I get to see her multiple times a week which is great! But my dad lives in good ol' Texas. I don't get to see him as often. So when he visits or when we visit it's always a good time.

Dad recently bought a biiiiiiig motor home. The thing is seriously huge. He has always said that his dream is to drive a motor home cross country. (My dad is insane). So he drove that puppy ALL the way up here from Dallas. Took him 2 days! Once he got here we did a few fun things. We went out to dinner with the family, we hung out and ate really yummy Mexican breakfasts, and then me and dad set out for California to see some family. We brought Lilly along of course...

My dad and his pride and joy... I mean his pride and joy #2. I'm #1 of course... ;-)

So it took us about 4 hours and one we got there we were hungry! We stopped at a little mexican resturant once we got to my Grandma's house. OMG, BEST Mexican food EVER. I seriously have contemplated making the 3 hour drive just to go eat at that resturant... It was that good.

My Grandma Martha and baby Lilly. She LOVED Lilly. Went crazy over her. It was really great to see her bond with Lilly so quick.

Yep, that's my dad. Gotta love him. I don't know what he's thining with that hair, however. Dad, that's got to go! ;-)

Luckily, my mom and dad get along great

My crazy, wonderful, exciting, insane family. Ahhh... I don't know what I'd do without them.

Labor Day {2010]

2010-10-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

Labor day was great! We spent the afternoon with the Davis family up at Mt. Charleston. We had a pick nic and the boys played Football, while us ladies played with the babies. It's fun having friends with kids... sometimes I feel like the outsider because we have children and our idea of having fun, isn't always our friends ideas of having fun. I wouldn't trade it for the world though.

Ryan wanted to catch "Alvin" haha

Our two beautiful little girls! Lilly & Karli.

Daddy's girls

The Boys playing football. (Go Cowboys!)

Bobby was looking for "Alvin"... he wanted to bring him home. NOOOOO!

I made some delicious strawberry cake

It doesn't look amazing, but it was fun to make! I might do a post with some better pictures a la betty crocker addition.

I'm a month late, but Labor day was a great time with some of our great friends =]

Call me Betty Crocker - Adventures in baking

2010-09-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

So Erika and I made some delicious cupcakes.

Devils food cake, chocolate ganache filling, homemade buttercream frosting, with swirls of ganache on top. mmMmmmmmmMMMmm...

Easy peasy ganache recipe:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. Bring to a simmer in saucepan. Turn burner off and add mini chocolate chips (we used milk chocolate, you can use semi-sweet or whatever you want. I just really enjoy the milk chocolate taste). Wisk in a little at a time and keep adding until you get the consistancy you want. It should be nice and syrupy, not watery at all. Voila! You can use it as a filling in cupcakes or as a fancy topping or anything you want! I tried to do chocolate covered strawberries, and it worked, but the only downside is that ganache doesn't cool hard. So the strawberries were just gooey, not nice and hard like they are supposed to be. So take that into consideration.

Erdman Munchkins

2010-09-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Ryan loves his little sister. He asks to hold her (albeit it only lasts for about 5 minutes until he looks at me and says 'I'm done', haha). He strokes her head gently and tells her he loves her. He is almost always the first one up to shove her binkie back in her mouth. Ryan walks into a room, assess who is there and if Lilly happens to be somewhere else (i.e. sleeping upstairs or something) he immediatly asks "where is Lilly??". He is one of the sweetest boys, and I'm so happy Lilly has such a good big brother to look up to.

Soccer Studddddd

2010-09-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan started soccer a couple of weeks ago. He is SO excited! He is on a team with about 7 other little boys ranging from 4-6yrs old. Their team is called the 'Screamin' Eagles'! Ryan has been asking for a soccer team since Bobby got him a soccer ball in February. Fall league signups came and we made sure to get him in. He looks adorable in his little soccer gear his mom got for him.

He was the only one standing like a black belt when getting instructions... Isn't that awesome?

Bobby is helping coach his team. Bobby has a lot on his plate between working part time, owning his own business, trying to make sure that business does well and can pay our bills while I'm not working, training for a fight he is doing coming up, working to get his car finished, and now helping coach Ryan's soccer team. He is super dad!

the running backwards drills were a bit of a challenge for him.

'I'm soooooo hot!'

The team is getting their gear this Friday, and their first game will be this Saturday! Can't wait!

Paper Anniversary

2010-09-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

August 24th marked mine and Bobby's 1 year anniversary of being married.

I know last year when we announced that Lilly was comming, and that we were already married threw some people for a loop. Lets re-cap.

August 24th last year, was one year that we had been engaged. See the post here. It was a really special day to me, not only because we had been engaged one year, but that was the day we went down to the court house and got married. No, there was no white gown, no brides maids or groomsmen. There was no photographer or place cards... it was just him, and me. Now, don't get me wrong. I WILL have my princess wedding. (a much more scaled down version of what I was planning, however). I will walk down that aisle with beautiful flowers in my hands and my daddy on my arm. When? Not sure, but those are just details that can be hammered out later. Right now, we're enjoying our little family, our beautiful children, and all of God's blessings he has bestowed uppon us.

So, this marked our one year anniversary, our 'paper' anniversary if you will. I'm one of those people that likes to go by the book on things. So, we kept it to "paper". I didn't tell Bobby my plans of keeping it to paper, because I didn't want to like 'take over' anything, or force him to do anything a certain way. But you know what? That man... he KNOWS me. Our anniversary was all paper from him. He KNOWS I'm a dork beyond all dorks and would want to stick to what the 'traditional' yearly gifts were. I was shocked. I mean, the man doesn't pay attention to 75% of the stuff I say (I ramble... I wouldn't listen to me either ha!). But I guess he is my husband, and he knows the things I like/enjoy. I'm glad he knew I would enjoy keeping our first anniversary traditional. =]

He came home with beautiful roses and a very sweet card.

Then later, once UPS got to our house, these were delivered. Paper roses to last for the rest of our lives and some happy 1st anniversary 'paper'. hahaha! He asked me if I was going to use it. o.0 oh husband...

The roses are BEAUTIFUL though! And completely paper. I need to go to home goods and get a pretty vase to put them in. I can't wait to look at these roses again in 50 years... to imagine what our life will be, the things we will acomplish, our children be grown and having grand babies for us. Our lives still have so much more... we have so many awesome things to do and achieve still. I can't wait to do all these things with the man I love by my side the whole time.

Oh, and we got to see Mystere! Yay for paper tickets! I totally broke the rules and took pictures... and had my phone taken away. But I didn't delete all the pictures! muahahaha! (they make you delete them to get your stuff back... but I'm a biotch and only deleted some). I'm a rule breaker... whatevs. So enjoy my illegal pictures from Mystere. We got to sit front row, it was AWESOME! Hubs did a great job.

Ok these dudes with the maskes freaked me out. The masks were on the back of their heads.. totally creepy.

This was the guy in the begining of the show telling everyone 'no pictures'. Yea, I listen well...

Prior to Mystere we went to dinner. I wanted mexican food, so we got mexican. Hubs thought it was strange I didn't ask for some place that would have cost over $100, but we had the baby. Granted, I could have left her with Erika, but I just couldn't for that long. So she came with :-)

us @ dinner. She hates her car seat if we aren't actually in the car...

And this was my paper gift to hubs. I know totally not as elaborate as his gifts, but it was fitting

We had a wonderful anniversary.

Sea World

2010-09-02T09:56:00.001-07:00

Bobby and I took the kids to Sea World. ::squeel::

I LOVE Sea World. I went for the first time about 5 years ago and have been itching to go back ever since.

We left Friday after classes, and drove most of the night there. We stayed with Bobby's Aunt Ellen and Uncle Dan, who were amazing. I met them last year when we took Ryan to Lego Land. They are such nice people.

Dan taught Ryan how to play checkers:

They blew bubbles in the back yard with him

Ellen came with us to the beach

Lilly's first (of many) trip to the beach!

My favorite picture of booger at the beach

Quick funny beach story: Last year we dug a hole. Bobby had to ask Ryan to get in the hole a million times before he did. He FINALLY got in the hole, and the second he sat down, the tide came in and it coverd his whole face. Well, Bobby was quick to grab him out but it startled him and he wouldn't go near that darn hole again. (If you click the link in the begining of the post, you will see the hole). Well, we get to the beach and Ryan says to Bobby 'Daddy, I want to dig a hole again!'. hahahaha! I couldn't believe he remembered the hole! And secondly, I couldn't believe he actually wanted to do it again! Kid cracks me up. Seriously. he is the funniest, sweetest, most loving little boy ever.

It was a little cold. Bobby sat content in his chair. Lol! Ryan didn't care of course. I went in with him a little bit, but I didn't dare get in when Ryan said to me "Lets swim, Hunnie!" It was overcast, but it was still a fun time. I wish we could have gone to the beach a little more this summer, but with Lilly it was too hard. The overcast was really a blessing in disguize, I was really worried about her in the sun with her being so little. Next summer will be a blast with her just begining to walk and Ryan another year older. Can't wait.

Bobby caught a lizard and shared some sweet daddy moments with Ryan:

At first Ryan was a little shy, and Bobby had to coax him to even touch it. Once he held him though he was ON IT. He didn't want to put him down. He was really REALLY sad and upset when we told him he had to put it back. He just wanted to take him home. It was cute. But we explained to him that he needed to be in his home, and then he seemed okay with it.

Sea World itself was awesome. Ryan loved the sharks. He kept asking "Can we see the sharks now???". We kept having to put it off because all the shows are in the begining of the day, and we couldn't miss Shamuu! lol. Ryan liked when they jumped in the air. They had a Cirque De Soleil show where they do acrobatic stuff into the water, and jump and fly in the air. Ryan LOVED that one. He was waving to the performers and everything. Hilarious. He got a really cool crazy hat at the whale show. It lights up in the dark.

Here is the hat. He insisted on pushing Lilly a lot. He wouldn't let anyone else touch the stroller and 'help'. I'd try to sneek in there and steer him to the left or right and he would say 'Hunnie you're touching it!'. Haha!! Yes Ryan, you cought me.

me trying to calm down the baby in the shark aquarium. Which, we did get to by the way.

They had a HUGE play area for the kids. Ryan spent a good portion of the end of the day there.

This thing was AWESOME. I totally wanted to go in and jump. It's a huge area that was just a big inflatable jump thing. It was like 10 bounce houses put together. I wanted to play :-(

Ryan was pretty fascinated by the flamingos.

du nu, du nu, dunu (jaws music) haha

Ryan and his daddy at the shark aquarium

Ellen and Lilly hanging out.

We had a great vacation, and the kids were both angels the whole time. Ryan was a great listener, and helped out a TON with his baby sister. Was very concerned about her the whole time. Lilly slept great (I was worried about her sleeping in a new place, in bed with me.) slept all night and was a trooper. She slept for most of Sea World, which is why there aren't any pictures of her. I took a bunch, but she's sleeping in the car seat. lol. She went in the baby bjorn great and only fussed in the begining while getting used to it. Bobby and I enjoyed ourselves, even though he wasn't a huge fan of the cold beach. He was a trooper though and hung out while Ryan and I had our fun. Successful trip :-)

Nikki turns 22

2010-08-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

My little sister is 22! Can you believe it? I can't. My little sister is one of the kindest, good hearted, happy person I've ever met. My sister would give you the shirt off your back, and her last dime if it meant that you would be happy. She is a great auntie to our two kids, she loves them both so much, and she's a great sister. I threw her a little party/get together at my house the week of her birthday.

My mommy brought flowers, she had no clue my cake was sunflower theme. We have this thing with just 'knowing'. =] I love my mommy

My sad excuse for a cake. Ok, it was REALLY yummy, but I know it wasn't the greatest looking cake. I tried. See my cute lady bugs??? I didn't have time to pipe a pretty edge to cover up the really bad frosting mess on the bottom... forgive me. Still juggling timing of things with a newborn. BUT Do you see the great job I did at making sunflowers? Ignore the writing... just ignore it.

We had the cousins all over, and they had a great time playing Wii, jumping on the trampoline, and ripping all of Ryan's toys out of his closet. haha! We had some really yummy food, hubbs did a great job manning the grill. We had some noodle salad, potato salad, salsa, some watermellon... yum!

I'm so proud of Nikki. She's the best little sister I could have ever asked for. I wish she lived closer and not up in Canada. (ok when I say Canada, I mean the north west... but it might as well be Canada).

Yellow Belt Testing

2010-08-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ryan recently tested and received his Yellow belt in taekwondo! He was SO excited. At first he didn't want to test. He seems to get this shy weird-ness to him every now and then. He finally got over whatever it was and got up there to test.

Being goofy before going up

You can see he had a case of the silly's this day, look at that smirk.

Loves his daddy.

Growing Babies

2010-08-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Jen Jen and I had our babies just a few months apart (our parents have been saying for years that one of us can't do something without the other... and aparently we can't have babies very far apart from each other either). Our master plan is to make sure that Karli and Lilly end up to be the best of friends, so we had to get them started young. We've already had a couple of 'play dates', and to see the differences that just one month makes just shocks me...

6/14/10

7/17/10

Look how much they grew in a month!

Awww me and Jen Jen are mommies together! =]

Swimming with Grandpa

2010-08-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

We went over to Bobby's dad's a couple of weeks ago. Ryan didn't have his swim trunks, but that didn't stop him from getting into the pool. (I don't think anything ever could stop Ryan from getting into a pool!) I got some fun pictures. Ono has a slide and a diving board. Ryan LoVes it over there. I can't wait till Lilly is old enough to put into the pool a little. I'm worried about the chemicals on her skin... and the sun of course. I have the cutest suit for her, but she hasn't worn it yet. Anyone know if it's okay to put her in the pool yet?

4th of July 2010

2010-08-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

4th of July this year was low key, but very relaxing and nice. We asked Taryn and Alex to spend the afternoon with us at the pool. We went to Bobby's mom's house and played all afternoon. Ryan is getting so great at swimming. We had some yummy BBQ, played us some Marco Polo and basked in the sun. Lilly slept almost the whole afternoon.

That evening, we went to Boulder City to see their spectacular firework show! They sure know how to do it! They have a really awesome 4th of July extravaganza. We were supposed to spend some of our afternoon there, but we just didn't get a chance. (Had too much fun in the pool hehe). We got a parking spot right as they were starting. We had a great seat! Ryan sat on Bobby's shoulders and on the roof of the car and watched them with us. In years past he hasn't been the biggest fan of the fireworks. We were a tad worried. He did great! There were a few that were much louder than the rest and he got a bit tense but otherwise, he enjoyed them! Lilly slept through it all. Seriously... They were SO loud, and she slept through the WHOLE THING! Goodness that baby... lol.

Our 4th of July was awesome. I'm glad we spent the afternoon relaxing in the pool and playing games and eating BBQ. I am glad we didn't lug around our 1 month old baby at a park. That would have been hard. Next year will be easier, she will be more mobile :-)

We had a baby pt. 2

2010-08-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

When I left off, I'd gotten my epidural (thank you epi king), I'd had a few naps, and life was good. Right? Right. If you missed Part 1, check that one out first.

Well, around 5:30 or so I had dialated enough to start pushing. I was excited. I was tired, and ready to get on with it. I don't know how women do hours and hours of labor. I was 7 hours in and was pretty much had my fill. The nurses came in though, and told me they were going to 'wait' a little longer, to let the contractions push the baby down a little more. ::sigh:: so we waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. By the time I was really feeling the need to push the nice afternoon nurses walked in with their replacements. Informed me it was shift change time, and that I'd have to wait a little longer so they could get all settled in.

Really? Yea Christina, really. Soooo finally about 10 to 8:00pm they were 'ready' for me to push. Now, that whole feeling of a person coming out of you is very... odd. I did have an epidural, so I didn't feel much. It just felt like I had a big poop. I know, not the nicest way to put it, but that's how it felt. I had a gazillion people in the room. At that point, I didn't really care. I just wanted it to be over with. I'm also not the most modest person out there. We all have the same parts (well, you know men have their parts, women have theirs...) so I'm really not embarassed. I never have been really.

Shiny peny time: I used to come home from karate/work when I was younger, and strip at the door, and walk around in undies and bra for a while. My mom always used to tease me about being an exhibitionist. Meh... I just don't like clothes.

So there I am, room full of my family, Bobby's family, my besties, out in all my glory trying to get this baby out. Now, all I can feel is pressure, the poop feeling. Well, this dumb nurse has her fingers aparantly all in me saying 'get to this point!'. Um, last I checked I had an epidural lady, I don't feel your fingers to be able to get that babies head down to that spot. I was SO annoyed with her. She just kept telling me 'if you don't push, we're going to have to do a C-section!'. That biotch was lucky I didn't kick her in the damn face. I was deathly afraid of a C-section. I didn't want them cutting my stomach muscles (I'd be doomed to be fat forever if that happened) I wanted to experience child birth the way God intended, and here she is trying to tell me she's gonna cut my kid out. She's lucky I didn't go with what I was thinking and verbally assault her. She kept telling me to bear down, and then my mom thought she was being helpful by reitterating what the nurse was telling me. Stop telling me to bear down! I'm pushing for crying out loud leave me the crap alone! I ended up yelling at my mom, when really I wanted to direct it at the nurse, but I was sort of at her mercy since she would be taking care of me and the baby. So I refrained from telling her to STFU and kicking her in the face. Really, that's what I wanted to do. So I had been pushing for like, I don't know, 20 minutes maybe? Well all of a sudden the nurse is telling me 'oh your doctor is coming, you're going to have to wait for her to do the rest, just rest for a few minutes'. Now, anyone who's been in labor before knows you can't just 'stop' mid way through. Are you serious lady??? The contractions are coming and this baby is gettin pushed out. So, whilst the nurses walk away and 'hang out' waiting for the Dr., I'm still pushing through my contractions. Somewhere around now is when my besties started pointing out that my epi was like almost GONE. Epi-king was quick and got a new one on there. Thank GOD. I wouldn't have been able to handle giving birth with no epi with that crazy pitocine in my body.

My Dr. finally gets there, and the babies head is literally like, crowning. I pushed and remember feeling relief. Well, that was Lilly's head popping into the world saying 'hi'. After that I'm thinking in my head 'yes! ok last one and she's out'. Nope, not so much. My Dr. said 'hold on, no more pushing'. REALLY?? Well, aparantly she had to fix something, idk, I don't remember, I just remember being annoyed. Here I am, legs spread in all their glory, and 15 people all lookin at my girly bits (or what was left of them at that point), and she says stop. Thanks. Then all of a sudden I hear a group 'gasp' and shocked faces all around me. I immediatly freak out... turns out, it was just the baby... RIPPING HER ARM OUT OF MY VAG. Yes, really. She pulled her own arm out. She was impatient with the dr. too. She's definitely my girl. My doctor gave me the okay to finish pushing, and our little princess came into the world at 8:27PM.

I really only pushed for like 35 minutes.

This is her coming out, yes I utilized the 'crop' function of my picture editor. You're welcome.

My Dr. asked me if I wanted her as soon as she came out. Um, YES! She plopped her down right on my belly, and even though she was screaming, she looked right at me. That moment was the single most defining, beautiful, exhilirating moment of my life. Looking at this little baby that had been growing inside of me for near 10 months. Wow...

"All the lines that held me to my life were sliced apart in swift cuts, like clipping the strings to a bunch of balloons. Everything that made me who I was - disconnected from me in that second and floated up into space. I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was. Not one string, but a million. Not strings but steel cables. A million steel cables all tying me to one thing - to the very center of the universe. The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I was. It was the baby girl in my arms that held me here now."

6lbs 11oz, 19" long June 6th, 2010

Yes, she really did come out this perfect. Straight from me she came out PERFECT. No, she was not swollen, she was not cone headed, she was not smooshed... She was perfect. I know babies aren't SUPPOSED to come out looking great, and they look pretty funky for the most part, but not Lilly... no. She glammed it up for her debut. She came out perfect and beautiful. I know all moms say that, but seriously, she's the prettiest baby I've ever seen. And it's not just because seh is mine. I remember thinking 'does she have all her toes and fingers? Of course she does, she's my baby', and then saying out loud 'she's pretty right??'. Ha! I'm a good mom. Really.

The room was a huge flurry. They only let me hold her for a few moments before they took her to get her all 'cleaned up'. I remember looking at my husband and thinking 'wow, we MADE her. Our love MADE that baby'. Wow... it's just amazing how God works. I've never seen or experienced anything so completely wonderful. My little girl is the most amazing gift God could ever give me. I never understood the love my mom really has for me, until I laid eyes on that little girl. You never truly understand true love until you have a child come from you. It's amazing.

And now the furry of pictures after she arrived:

Our first family picture. I didn't position Lilly like that, she turned her head to look at her big brother. His face is just so full of wonder. See the monkey by my head? Ryan brought it for his baby sister. He shows it to her all the time and tells her 'Lilly I got this for you', and then he pushes the music part of it. He's very sweet with his sister. (psst, see his big brother t-shirt I made him? I know, it's awesome)

She was so aware from the moment she came into the world. Do you see her looking at me?

The aunties

My mommy and sissy

My mommy (grammie) and Lilly

Carol (grandma) and Lilly

Lisa (Nana) and Lilly

While they were cleaning the baby, and everyone left me to go look at her, my besties had my back and hung out with me so I wasn't alone. That's why they are my best friends, these girls are my rock. I don't know many people who have girls like these in their lives. Shoot, any friend that will sit in a hospital room for 10 hours gets best friend award of the year. Hands down.

Daddy showing Ryan the baby when she was getting all weighed and what not.

Auntie Shannyn finally got to hold her once we got in the recovery room

There are so many more pictures, and so much more I could say, but I thinkt his post is growing long, and you're all not as excited as I am about all this, so I'll leave this here. :-)

Emmett

2010-08-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Emmett is quite the funny dog. He is a great family dog. He loves us all, and does his best to 'protect' us from anything and everything. He protects me from bugs that enter the house uninvited. He bats them around for a bit then ends up eating them. Yes, he shows them who is boss. You can find him outside running in circles, visciously barking at the imaginary bad guys that are lurking just on the other side of our wall. Yes, he is a big bad boy.

I really just wanted to share these pictures of him 'basking' in the sun. haha

And yes, he really is named after a vampire. Get over it.

Fathers Day

2010-08-09T21:02:00.001-07:00

Fathers day this year was a bit of a bust. Lilly was only 2 weeks old, and I didn't get to do much for Bobby. I felt really bad. We had a nice low key day at our house, though. We spent time together as a family, and really, that's what it's all about. Bobby's dad came over for a while and had dinner with us. I made us some speghetti and homemade sauce. Yumm!

It was a nice time together, especially having our new little bundle around to celebrate this year! Ryan made his daddy a plaque that had his hand prints painted on it that said happy fathers day... I forgot to take a picture. It sits in our living room on a plate stand for everyone to see. He was quite proud of it. And that was it! I know, not incredibly exciting, but that was our Fathers Day this year.

We had a baby pt. 1

2010-08-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

My last pregnant picture.

I decided that there's no way I can tell the whole story in one sitting. One, I don't have that much time on my hands with a newborn, and a 4 yr old running around half the time. Two, you would all get tired of reading about 1/3 of the way through and just skip to the pictures anyway. So without further adue, I will begin to tell the story of Lilly's birth.

I guess I have to start at my 39 week appointment. Hubs came to pick me up from work and took me to my almost last appointment (which ended up really being my last). My doctor saw me, and informed me that my blood pressure was getting higher and higher. She was worried I was going to develop preeclampsia. My feet were the size of soccer balls and she told me to tell my boss I needed to 'sit' at work. I reminded her I sit every. single. day. She got a 'oh-not-good' look on her face, and told me it would be in my best interest if she induced me ASAP. She wanted to do it that afternoon! um, no. Sorry, I need a little mental preparation. She sent me back to work with a 'start maternity leave immediately' note, and we went home. I was in the hospital Saturday night at 7PM for them to put the Cervadell in me.

We get to the hospital and the nurse with long fingernails put in the cervadell. O-M-G. I do not tollerate pain well. I'm a big baby. Sorry. This woman had to put this tampon thing inside of me to soften my cervex. Well, it had to go REALLY far up me. Needless to say, this woman had some nails. I was shreeking in pain, squeezing the crap out of my little sisters hand, and crying. This woman had the audacity to tell me her nails 'weren't that long'. That woman must have been high.

The monitors, and the crazy finger nail biotch nurse

The night was uncomfortable. The darn blood pressure machine kept waking me up, and the monitors were uncomfortable. I woke up the next morning and nothing had happened. I was 'almost' 2 cm dialated. Which, I think the nurse was just trying to be nice and make me feel like I acomplished SOMETHING. They said they were going to have to induce me with Pitocine. (I don't know how it's spelled. Sorry). Around 10AM they came around and started the Pit. About 30 minutes went by and I was good. I was having some contractions but they wren't bad and I was feeling really optimistic that I could do this without the aid of pain meds. And then it hit. I started getting wave after wave of contractions about 30 seconds apart, and so strong, I was getting nautious. Epidural man came around and asked if I wanted an epidural. I held out and said no. 10 minutes later I was screaming for him to come back. It was the most horrible, excruciating pain I've ever experienced in my life. Bobby knew how much I wanted to do it without an epidural, but we briefly talked, and we knew I just needed to be comfortable. I decided to get the epi.

I just remember crying and screaming for Jesus to help me through this. My husband was beside himself, he was in tears just because I was in so much pain. I just remember him looking at me with a look on his face of complete helplessness. Really, there was nothing he could do, but I know he was wishing he could. Epi-king came back. THANK YOU JESUS! He was amazing. It was all I could do to sit still while he stuck it in my back. I was terrified of an epi prior to this, I wanted to do it without an epidural, but being induced definitely changed that. Had I gone into labor naturally, and progressed without needing the Pit, I am sure I could have done it without the epidural, but that Pit changes everything. It intensifies the contractions and makes them go on top of eachother. Once I got the epidural it was smooth sailing. I had the best epidural of all time. I could still move my feet and toes, but everything else from the waist down was numb.

After the epi, I wasn't allowed to get up (duh). I was tagged as a 'fall risk' and didn't get out of that bed after that. They put a catheter up in me so I didn't pee all over myself. I didn't know I'd need one of those after getting an epi... didn't think that through very well. I'm still working on getting full control over my bladder again because of it. :-(

The rest of the day was honestly a blurr... I don't remember much. I remember people coming in and out. I remember Shannyn and Jen Jen getting there and being so greatful for them. I remember being in the middle of a conversatin, with a room full of people, and then waking up to my hubby sleeping in the corner and the room empty. Aparantly I took a few little naps throughout the day.

These are just a few of the pictures before Lilly came...

In baby story part 2 I'll go into more of what real labor was like, and how pushing a 6lb human being out of me wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

xoxo

Worlds (kinda)

2010-07-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, my husband took our school demo team to an open tournament. It was the IMAC 'worlds'. There were about 8 teams. (I think? It was 7 or 8). They did an amazing job and ended up taking 3rd place. We had some points knocked off for a few minor things here and there, which sucked, but despite the few mess ups the team had a great time, they looked amazing, and we couldn't be more proud of them. They put in so much time and energy into practice, we love them! (although, I do think they were honestly the best team there! =] ) Here is the link to the video of the team at the tournament. It was taking too long to just straight upload on to here.

The Best Dam BBQ!

2010-07-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Best Dam BBQ is an event in Boulder City they have every year. I've learned that this is something you DON'T want to miss! BEST FOOD EVER! Anyone who knows me knows I'm all about food. Here, bask in the amazingness that was our BBQ sandwhich and skewer.

I wanted this yummy looking lemonade, and sent hubs on a hunt for it. (My feet were dunzo). He came back with a crappy minute maid lemonade. ::sigh:: But what he did find were his yucky pickle things that he gets from memphis BBQ. Yea, sure hun, you can search our memphis BBQ but you can't search out the awesome lemonade stand? Fired... ;-)

Anyway, They had a cool big inflatable maze thing for the kids. Best of all, it was F-R-E-E!! Ryan and his buddies from karate all went on it more times than I could count.

Ry and Gage

They also had a bigger car show than they did for the Spring Jamborie!

Family Outings

2010-07-18T15:11:00.001-07:00

The weekend before Lilly came, we had quite an adventurous weekend. Probably the LAST thing I needed while 191874983 weeks pregnant, but hey, it was my last horah I guess ;-)

Bobby had a couple of surprises for us Saturday morning. Nothing big, but they made for a really good Saturday for us. First we went to the Lake, to feed the fish. These fish were MUTANT fish! Seriously, probably the ugliest things I've ever seen. Here, take a look for yourself.

Mutant fish, no??

Asside from the fish being mutant fish, we had a nice relaxing morning at the Marina.

Next up was something I've been wanting to take Ryan on for about a year now and just haven't gotten around to it. I've mentioned it to Bobby a few times, so he took it uppon himself to take us :-)

Boulder City has a really cool train ride you can go on. It's part of the tracks of the original Union Pacific, and it was used to bring all the supplies to the dam when it was being built. Since then, there hasn't been much use for it, so the trains run now, only as a tourist attraction. They wear real conductor uniforms, which are so cool that I wish I had one.

The little old man that took our tickets was so cute. He reminded me of my grandpa. Ryan was really excited to give him his ticket, pretty much ran to him and threw his ticket to him.

The train ride goes from Boulder City, pretty much to our house, just on the other side of the freeway. It was a 45 minute ride, and througout the whole thing they give you cool history and some fun trivia. We played while we were on the ride, so I didn't absorb too much of what was said. Ryan really enjoyed himself, and I thought it was really cool. I'm a sucker for cool museums and fun history, though, and my husband is well aware of my dorkiness.

Ryan in the window sill of the train. Any smaller and this big kid wouldn't have fit! Man he's getting big! You see those long muscular legs???

Hubs did a good job of planning this fun outing. +10 points to him!

San Gennaro

2010-07-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

In May the San Gennaro Feast came back to Vegas. I love going to this festival every year. I love the food (duh), I love the rides (although I couldn't ride them this year being pregnant), and I just love everything about it. The Welch clan joined us for the evening and we just really enjoyed ourselves. Ryan had a blast riding all the rides, there were a couple he wasn't quite tall enough for yet unfortunately, but he had a really great time. And that's all that matters :-)

Our goofey little family. I love these boys with all my heart.

and our extended family, without them I think we'd be lost.

Ryan has the best daddy ever.

And the best uncle Tony as well.

The food was SO good!

Put me down!!

The Mr. & the Mrs.

Give the monkey a dollar and he shakes your hand :-)

His favorite, CHEESE!!!

I'm so behind on my blogging... ::sigh::

Adding a new Perez to the family

2010-07-01T07:49:00.001-07:00

My brother recently came to Las Vegas and got married! My sister and I are so happy for him. He seems truly happy and just so much more rejuvinated than I've seen him in the past years. I'm so happy for him. So, welcome to the crazy family Ashley. I hope you are ready!

The Perez kids

And the 'new' Perez. hehe.

Board Break-a-Thon

2010-06-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Last month we held a fund raising event for the H.U. Lee foundation at our karate school. It was a HUGE success! We raised over $2,000 that will go towards scholarships for highschool seniors. We wouldn't have been able to pull this off without the help of our amazing parents at the school. I was 18months pregnant (haha) and had absolutely no energy, was miserable, huge, uncomfortable, and pretty much helped in this 0%. Tara organized this huge thing, with the help of our other parents at the school. I was really impressed with what Bobby did as well. Bobby isn't a 'details' person. But I have to say he did a really good job in helping put this together. We had tonz of raffle prizes, games, a bounce house, lots of food and snacks. Oh yea, and more boards than I could count that were donated by Lowes. We broke boards twice per hour for 4 hours. It was a long day, but it was so worth it. I'm so proud of our school!

All the amazing raffle baskets that were donated

We had face painting too!

Ryan was trying to decide if he wanted to help break boards

Now that's a lot of boards!

He didn't brush his teeth that morning. ;-)

Our wonderful program director, Tara! She made this day possible.

My mother in law taking care of the donation booth.

The kids loved the bounce house

One of the board breaking sessions

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting

2010-05-16T08:02:00.001-07:00

So, suffice to say that Ryan is a very athletically tallented child. He was riding a scooter by the age of 2 with the grace that some 4 year olds can't even pull off yet. Yes, he is pro. Since the day I've met him, he's been nothing but a little dare devil. He jumps off of things other parents wouldn't dream of letting their child near, with absolutely no fear. He has been around a karate school his entire life. His parents are both multiple times winning world champions in Taekwondo. It's in his blood to be amazing to say the least.

A few weeks ago he wanted to go to a karate tournament. I can't even describe to you in words how incredibly impressed I was in watching him. This child, has so much ahead of him in life. He is SO athletically gifted. I am still in awe of him. I don't know any 4 year old who can do what he does. I've seen one that has come close to his calibur in my years of teaching children his age. ONE. Do you have any idea how many children I have taught that age and have never seen anyone as awesome as him?? Anyway, I'll let the videos speak for themselves. He is truly an amazing child.

Ryan & Hunnie Date Day!

2010-05-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I had a date day with the most amazing 4 year old little man in the whole wide world.

First we started out our day with a much needed hair cut! After that, we had to go to Target for a few things. Ryan knows Target. He knows that he gets to hang out under the cart with a new toy. haha! He always says now when he see's toys on TV 'Can we go to Target and get that?'. Does that tell you something about my love affair with Target?

After that the fun really began. We went down to The District and went on the merry-go-round. He saw it and was so excited. Of course, he wanted to ride it about 20 times. They charge $1 per ride! So, we each rode 5 times. Each time, Ryan wanted a new animal. I think he liked the Tiger best. He wanted me to get on an animal every time next to him, I did it once, and man, with this big belly it TOTALLY didn't work that well. After that, I hung out on the bench one that just went around and didn't go up and down, and stood by Ryan snapping a thousand pictures.

What.A.Face

Ryan and I decided we wanted some ice cream after our carousell adventure. So, we found a place called USWIRL on the way to our next destination. OMG have you been there? If not, find one, and go. It's frozen yogurt so an even better alternative than icecream to begin with. They have a million flavors on the wall. You get a cup, and then fill it with whatever you want! You can mix and match or just get one solid flavor. After that you pick everything that goes on it. Different fruits, chocolates, sprinkles, tonz of stuff to choose from. They charge you by how much it weighs at the end. It was actually really inexpensive! Ryan had to get the ice cream that came out of #4. Luckily it was something he liked. haha! He pointed to it and exclaimed "Hunnie! It's 4, like me!". And that, sealed the deal for him.

After U-Swirl we went to paint! Ryan walked in and first said "I want to paint a dolphin!" Lo and behold, there were about 3 different dolphins to choose from. He was incredibly excited. Then once we started passing other things he started just picking everything that cought his eye. Next he wanted a micky mouse, then a biiiiig dinosaur. Finally, he settled on a skateboard. He wanted to paint it red and blue he said, and give it to Daddy. So, he did. I added yellow and orange to his choices so he had a bit more variety. Ryan hasn't quite mastered the quality of patience of 'coloring in the lines'. So, he mixed all the colors together and made swirls all over his awesome skateboard. ;-)

After the skateboard was done, he decided he wasn't done painting... and painted his own face.

He and I had a great day together. It was a lot of fun to hang out and play with this amazing little boy. He is incredibly smart, well behaved, and so loving. I am so blessed with such a wonderful little boy.

Amish bread - I'm a baking failure

2010-04-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

So, I love to cook. Did you all know that? I really enjoy it. I like making something and my husbnad/family/friends say 'wow this is really good!'. I feel like I've accomplished something. I've learned to add certain stuff to recipe's, and tweek them to fit my families needs. Well, cooking, and baking are two TOTALLY different things...

Bobby's friend gave me a starter bag for Amish Friendship Bread. I've attempted this before, and ruined it before it even came time to BAKE the bread. Yea, I ruined it while it was in the plastic bag 'fermenting' still. Go me. So THIS time, I was determined to stay on top of it. Day 10 was yesterday, and I was so excited! So I get home, do a couple of things, and then get to my bread. I add everything in, seperate the other starter bags etc... my arm is killing me from stirring (because you don't use a beater for this, it's not the amish way I guess... I think next time I might just say screw it and use it. I don't want to subject my arm to that kind of torture again). Well I get to adding cinnamon. The directions say 1tsp. I have a severe case of pregnancy brain, and it's only so severe, because I can barely function on a daily basis without screwing up before I ever even got pregnant. I have the 2 tablespoon spoon in my hand. I get it full of cinnamon, pour it in, and just stare at it.

I poured 2 TABLESPOONS of cinnamon into a batter that only asked for 1 TEASPOON! WTF is wrong with my brain??? How did I actually do that??

I bake the bread anyway. Because at this point, I've invested way too much of my time to quit now. Who knows, maybe I've just invented the best cinnamon bread ever, right?

Wrong.

Not only was it not good, but I failed to put the little bread pans, inside a bigger pan to catch any 'overflow', thus, creating a huge bread gook MESS in my beautiful stove, that NOW I'm going to have to get my big pregnant butt bended over to clean for God only knows how long to get it all out. Oh sure, my oven has a self cleaning feature, but I don't know how to use it, and I'm not sure if I trust it. I mean, how does an appliance clean itself???

I should have taken a picture of my lovely disaster, but by that time, I just was ready for bed.

I'll try again in 10 days, and let you all know how wonderfully that turned out.

P.S. I started my Easter blog yesterday, but it's not done, so it's sitting in my drafts. I know I know, I'm a blogging failure. Get over it. lol