Memorial Day 2012!

Memorial Day

First off, thank you to all the people that have served our country or are serving now.  Bless those people that have lost their lives for our country.  

This day is also a good day to remember those that have left before us.  I miss all my grandparents, my nephew, Mullen, my Aunt Pat, and others that are no longer with us.  

This day is also a much needed break for Matt.  We had fun spending 3 days together!

 My big boy!  He likes to kick and punch.  I watch him and think, ooooh, that is what he was doing in my belly.  I always said this baby moved soooo much more than Lily did.   :)

 Getting his tummy time in.  As you can see in the background, Lily loves to watch him lift his head.  She is his own little cheerleader. :)

 

Hudson was not wanting to lay by himself while we were getting ready.  So, Lily (baby whisperer) calmed him down.  I love how he is holding her arm in place like he doesn't want her to leave him.

It was a nice day for a trip to the lake.  We got there after 1:00 or so.  There weren't many people there, but we enjoyed relaxing.  Lily got to play with Carson and Collin for a little while too.

Matt got to water ski.  I love watching him ski, he is soooo good at it!

 

Then Lily and him pulled Jeremiah, wake boarding.

 

 Lily even got to drive the jet ski later.  I think she is hooked!  Can you tell I liked taking pictures of them in the water.  My camera did so well with the water splashes and the colors.  They were going so fast that it was difficult to get them in the picture.  So, needless to say, I deleted a lot!  :) ha

 

Lauren was there too and was dying to hold the little man.  

I hope everyone had a relaxing Memorial Weekend!!!!

Swimming in Omaha

After my graduation party at Eliza's, we went to the Hilton downtown Omaha and stayed.  Mark, Jackie, and Emily came as well.  So, in the morning we had a great breakfast and then a swim.  Lily loves loves loves swimming.  So this was a vacation to her!  :)

 

Aunt Emily, Grandpa Mark, Lily, Daddy

 

 

Hudson was getting so warm in there.  He was out!

 

My Masters Graduation

This weekend I received my Masters Degree in Teaching Leadership from Midland University.  I started classes in January 2010.  There are 9 of us that went the whole way through, but only 7 of us were at graduation.  There were 2 others from the program that started after us.  It was fun to see them all again.  Since we started the program, 2 of them got married (to each other), two of us had babies, and the married couple are expecting.  It is bittersweet because I am done, but our paths probably won't cross anytime soon. Thanks to my professor, Kathy, for the picture below.

Carlee, Brendan, Natalie, myself, Axton (not in my cohort), Brandon, Kate, Brooke, and Alison (not in my cohort)

 This was before I got hooded.

 

I am now a Midland Graduate!

 Thank you Matt for supporting me in this process.  There were a lot of nights and weekends that I was glued to my computer.  He entertained Lily when I could not.  :)

 My beautiful family!  Now that my degree is done, there is more time to be spent with family!

Thank you Dad and Mom for all of your support through out the years.

I had absolutely my whole family there watching me!  I am so blessed.  Mom, Dad, John, Laurie, and boys, Scott, Eliza, and kids, Virgie, Matt, and our kids.  We then all went to Scott and Eliza's to celebrate.  Matt's parents and Emily came all the way from O'Neill as well (Thank you!)  

It feels awesome to be done!  

Meeting baby Vivienne

On Sunday we went to Lincoln for my cousin, Edie's graduation party.  Then we went to my cousin Marcy's to meet her daughter, Vivienne.

 Vivienne was born on April 25, 2012.

 Lily and Sydney love holding babies.  

Now they both have one to hold!!! :)

Although Vivienne is 9 days older than Hudson, she is still smaller than him.  I love this picture of him stretching and her balled up!

 

 Look at Hudson's chicken legs. :)

 He locked arms with Vivienne.  It was so cute.  Lily said "Mommy, they are going to be friends forever!"  It will be fun to watch them together as they grow up.

I love trying to imagine what they are thinking.  Hudson is like "I've got her!"  Vivienne is trying to get away.  ha ha

Congratulations Marcy and Mark!  Vivienne is beautiful.  We hope to see you again soon.  

My 30th birthday party!

Matt lined up a wonderful birthday party for me.  On Saturday evening he had our friends meet us at the Miletta Vista Winery in St. Paul.  I had never been there and it was beautiful.

 Having a party away from home meant that I had to leave my new baby.  So, Matt and Lily gave him his first bottle to see how he would do for Gma & Gpa.  You can see that he didn't have a problem and Lily loooooved feeding him.

 Even though I knew it was only going to be a couple hours, it was still hard to say good bye.  I knew he was in great hands. :)

That evening was a little chilly and rainy, so we kept the party indoors.  Each person got to taste 5 wines and then Matt bought a few bottles for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you to everyone that came to help me celebrate.  I had a great time!

Splatts, Eickhoffs, Dubbs, Runcies, Boslaus, Dudos, Barnetts, DeBergs, Virgie, Michala, and Kyle!

The party wasn't over!  A lot of them even came over to our house for more fun!  That means a lot to me because it was not a short drive.  Thanks guys!  We then played the horse racing gambling game.    My friend Nathan and his wife Kiley came over too.  It was fun to relax and have a good time with just the adults. 

Lily and Landon were up and wanting to play the next morning.  Mommy was good, but Daddy was a little slow getting out of bed.  Lily has so much fun playing with Landon, it was nice that they could spend some time together.

 

Still has a little while before his Pumas fit!  :)

 

We love visitors :)

We are so lucky to have good friends and family!  Hudson is already loved by so many.  It has been fun getting so many visitors through out the weeks.

The Baasch family came to visit Hudson one evening.

 Brady loves babies.  He wanted to hold Hudson the whole time! :)

 Grace holding Hudson.

 And Michele!  Dick was too busy chatting with Matt :)

The next morning, Amy Springer came out with her 3 boys to visit.

 

Lily riding her four wheeler with Collin and Carson.  Cash stayed inside with me, Amy, and Hudson.  He just had his 1st birthday this month.

Thank you so much for coming to meet Hudson, Baasch family and Springer family!

Lily's preschool program

Lily is done with her first year of Preschool!!!  They had a program/celebration for all the preschoolers on a Friday evening.  Lily's class and the T/Th class sang a couple songs and received their certificate.  It is so cute watching 4 year olds sing.  Good job Lily Jo!

 

Her hat was falling off, can you tell by her expression that she is not happy?  ha ha

 

Yay Lily!!!  Next year she will go to 4 days of preschool.

 

 

Lily and her friends Paislee and Aysha.

 

Birthdays!!!!

Oh my Goodness, this lady is the BIG 30!  I always thought 30 seemed very old, but I'm not old, ha ha!!!  My 20s were fun and I look forward to what my 30s have to offer.

I got woken up this morning by Lily saying "Mommy (whisper), Mommy (a little louder), its your birthday today!"  She had been hiding the cards in her room, so Matt sent her to get them.  They got me a trip to Las Vegas in September!  I have never been there, but have heard great things!  Yay, yay, yay!!!

For lunch, Lily, Hudson, and I had a lunch date with my first graders.  We felt like rockstars when we entered the room.  It was soooo good to see them.  It is amazing how much I missed them.  They were excited to tell me what they have been up to.  

The next two pictures are funny pics with the first graders when I brought Hudson, and also when I had brought Lily.  

 May 2012

 December 2007 (These kiddos are 5th graders now)

We had a fun time!!

That evening we went out to eat with my parents.  Since my mom's birthday is May 16th we always celebrate somehow together.  We went to Fuji and got the birthday serenade!  We have always heard it be done to other tables, and now it was finally us!  The meal was great as always!!!  They took our picture which we had the option to put it on the wall, but we gave it to Lily to hang in her room.  I took a picture of a picture (little blurry) ha ha!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Lily was interested on how old we are.  So, we discussed that I am Lily's fingers, Daddy's fingers, and Mommy's fingers!!!  Grandma is Lily's fingers, Grandpa's fingers, Grandma's fingers, Mommy's fingers, Daddy's fingers, and 9 of Hudson's fingers!  Wow!!!! :)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!  It was so fun to get messages all day on my phone and Facebook.  I definitely felt loved yesterday!!!

I can do 30!!!  Bring it on!!!