HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE AND ONLY SISTER!

My older sister Kim is turning 27 today!!! I thought she might like me to announce that. She only has three years left of youth..... Better live it up Kimbo.
I just wanted to let her know how much I love her. We have had some good times together. I remember when we would go on family trips we would sit in the back of the van and make up our own songs and sing them until our parents were so sick of us. I was always so good at annoying my family. Then there was the time I got a GirlTalk for Christmas and we went into my sisters room and talked and talked and talked. We were laughing for hours. I'm sure over the years I probably bothered my sister so much but I always wanted to be just like her.
Today she is a wonderful mother of two little boys and a fabulous wife to her husband. She is the queen of thank you notes, that's for sure. I'm so grateful for her in my life. Kim I hope you have a wonderful day and live up these last three years of your young adulthood! I still have 6 more to go!!!! Love you Kim!!!!!!

A weekend of FUN

We were so lucky to have my sister and her family come up for the weekend to hang out with us. We had such a blast with them. We were also lucky enough to hang out with Jared and Leslie Tyson and their cute kids Sam and Ella. We had a fun-filled weekend. Leslie was such a sweetheart to get us into the Children's Museum. I know that all of the kids had a fun time. I had a hard time getting pictures of Charlie and Sam. They were all over the place.
I think that Jake and I have been so fortunate to have met amazing friends and be so close to family. We are slowly learning the fun things that we can do here in Milwaukee. I'm sure we will become pros by the time we have to leave.
A big thanks to the Tyson's and the Vause's. We love you guys!!!

StoneFire pizza

We had such a blast with The Vause's and the Tyson's on Friday night. We went to this really fun pizza joint called StoneFire pizza. It was full of food and lots of fun toys and things to play with for the kids. Nolan really enjoyed the giant legos. Charlie and Ella liked climbing up and down the play area. And Ashton and Sam, which I could never get a picture of because he was climbing everywhere, enjoyed the jungle gym. Really, it was such a fun night. Nolan loves hanging out with his cousins and of course the Tyson's.

Playing in the snow with the cousins!!

Naked boy!!!!

Nolan has become such a messy eater I've started to take his shirt off when he eats. Well, now he thinks it is so fun to go around with no shirt and show off his "ripped" body. No not really, but he does enjoy being free. Look at that cute WHITE BOY!

HAIR, HAIR, HAIR

This boys hair just keep getting more and more CRAZY!!! I thought you all should check out what it does lately. You remember when I told you that all it does is stick straight up, well now it forms automatically into a mohawk when he wakes up. I guess when this kid is sleeping he does some weird things to get his hair to do that. I swear Nolan's hair has a mind of its own. Yesterday for church we even tried to wet and lotion his hair to the side so he wouldn't have the mohawk for church, half way through sacrament meeting it was formed into the old shenanigans.

I'm thinkin he likes the camera?

I have been so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. Lately Jake has been more than willing to watch Nolan while I go to my Body Pump class and the YMCA. While I'm gone Jake goes a little camera crazy but Nolan really seems to like it. Jake captured some darn cute pictures of Nolan! He is looking more and more like a toddler. Oh, sad.

He's our little "peeeenist"

So when church was canceled last week we went over to our neighbors, Dan and Holly, to hang out. They have this piano that plays music beautifully no matter what note you hit. Of course Nolan thought he was pretty cool stuff. It was fun to watch our boy become a master of keys. Who knows, maybe he will actually enjoy piano and become world renowned.

What....no church??!!! PaRtY!!!!!

I just don't get Milwaukee. There has been another storm warning so they canceled church today. The interesting thing about it is.......the storm warning was not for snow! Right now it's just raining. Supposedly the temperature is going to drop drastically and turn to ice and that means very scary conditions on the road that has been rained on for the last 6 hours. So we are just hanging out at home.
It feels kind of weird to not be going to church when it is only raining right now. Nonetheless, we thought that it would only be appropriate to play "Settlers." We are also going to have "linner or dinnunch" with the Barber's (that is a late lunch early dinner thing) and then we will head over to the Jolley's to "Settle." These are all people within our little cul-de-sac. I think I could get use to this no church thing.
One great thing about it is Nolan has had a whole day with his daddy! So lucky for the both of us. Well there you have it suckers! I hope you are enjoying your sabbath. I know we are.
Oh, just so all you competitors out there know, Jake and I have mastered the "Settlers of Catan Cities and Knights." So if anyone dares....... Yes, that means you Spencer Stucki! Until we meet again.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

Pretty sweet picture huh? I'm sure that is what you are thinking. And I'm guessing you are also wondering how he got up there. I will tell you, but shh, it's a secret. Jake climbed up behind and is holding him by his hands. It still looks pretty awesome though. This was obviously Jake's idea, in case you were wondering. Most females don't think of putting their child on top of a snowbank for fun. I've always wondered what it would be like to be in the mind of boy for a day.....what a minute, I don't think so.

We were lucky enough today to have Jake home early today. I haven't been feeling so good these past couple of days. I have a really bad cough and the drainage makes me nauseous. I'm sure you wanted to know that. Anyway, that is why we were so fortunate to have Daddy home so early. He is helping me out and hanging out with the boy. Thanks honey.
It has been nice to actually see the sun today. It doesn't happen very often out here in Milwaukee during the winter. I'm glad we took advantage of it and got Nolan outside. Nolan loves to do anything that doesn't require him to stay inside with me all day long.
I am so grateful for the sun today and for my sweet husband for helping me out. I really owe him. He always seems to come to my rescue. I love my boys!

Fun with Daddy

I'm not MESSY at all...............

Oh the joys of letting them eat by themselves. Nolan has been showing an interest in holding the spoon by himself so I thought the other night we would give it a whirl. The results, not too bad. His new thing when I am feeding him is to hit the spoon and make all the food go everywhere then swirl it around on the highchair. It is messy but fun to see him want to do things by himself. We have found ways of distracting him while we feed him until he is really ready to attempt the spoon again.

Kate is Great!!!

Nolan's little, or shall we say BIG, friend Kate came over the other day to hang out. She is only 4 months older than Nolan but looks like a 2 year old. She is a tank!! Kate is so much fun though. Nolan and her really get along together. My friend Amanda and I try to get them together often for play time. But as you can see from the pictures that Kate tends to beat up on Nolan just a tad. It's good for the boy! We sure do love our Kate!

Nolan's "little", we mean BIG friend Kate was hanging out the other day

Happy 1st Birthday SOPHIE!!!!

YEAH FOR SOPHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Our sweet little niece is the big ONE today!!! Cute Sophia Ann Rabe. She is a beautiful little girl! We love her so much. Nolan loves to watch her crawl around everywhere. They have a lot of fun together. I'm sure now that Nolan is crawling she could teach him a few tricks about how to get into things. We are so lucky to have Sophie as a niece and a cousin. Our favorite thing that Sophie does is...... she whispers "hi." It is the cutest thing you have ever heard and seen! She will do it over and over and you never get sick of it. She is full of life and we can't get enough of her. We wish we could be closer so that Nolan and she could be best friends. I'm sure in their later years they will be teasing each other all the time. Well, here's to you Sophie........on your biggest day!!!! Happy Birthday!!! We love you so much!

Talk about CaBIn FeVEr........

Nolan and I have been stuck inside all day long and it is killing us both. Since it started snowing last night we have had no break. So finally I decided to put Nolan in his cute little snowsuit (courtesy of my dear sweet parents) and head outside to enjoy the snow. Nolan wasn't so sure of it at first but did enjoy looking at it. As soon as I put him down he started to cry, thus the second picture. But he finally got use to it and thought it was pretty cool. We will try it again tomorrow in the afternoon and see if he will actually play in the snow or with it. Probably not, but a mom can try, right?

Thanks Utah!!! It just keeps snowing and snowing.....

Storm alert!!! That is what we have been seeing on the news for the past two days. They really prepare for their storms out here in Milwaukee. They predicted that the storm was going to be so bad that they closed all schools, churches, daycares, etc. I have never heard of anything like that. In UT they don't close things until the day of or if the snow gets to the point that it is impossible to drive. Wisconsin doesn't take chances. They will automatically close everything. I think everyone in our cul-de-sac stayed home from work. It snowed and snowed and snowed all day. It started snowing last night and still is. The winds are about 30 mph so it is bitter cold!!! Notice how perfectly my hands were measuring the snow. I didn't know I was that good! We seriously got dumped on. I felt like a kid again.

The snow was up to our knees if not higher in some places.

Oh, isn't my hubby the sexiest man alive?!!!

Gotta take a picture of the snow plow. They were just announcing on the news that this was a record breaking snowfall in such a short amount of time. I guess it has been awhile since they have had such a winter. We must be their good luck charm. We brought the snow to UT when we visited in December and brought it back when we left.