the jahns

half a year

2012-01-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

i havent posted about hazel is awhile. First back to school, then getting ready for Christmas and mexico, and all of the sudden it's january and she's already 6 months old! i can NOT believe it! here's what i know about Hazel at 6 months.

- she is seriously the BEST sleeper ever. from 1 month old until we left for mexico, she slept EVERY night from 10 to 6 at least, and in the past month from 9:30-9. no eating in the night, no fussing, not a PEEP! it was seriously amazing. i kept thinking, is it humanly possible for her to sleep that well? is she eating enough? maybe i should wake her up? but, no. she just likes to sleep.

- she has 2 teeth now, they just popped up last week while we were in mexico. so cute and tiny, and jagged. she didn't seem to fuss about them too much, woke up a couple times in the night while we were there, but thats it.

- Hazel loves to eat, but not like my other kids. they LIVEd to eat, especially ozzie. Hazel jsut enjoys herself, eats slow, and when she's done, she's done. She will NOT however take a bottle of any variety, which is getting a little annoying i must say. but whatever, i figure you only get that special time with your baby for 9 months or so and then its over, so i better enjoy it!

-She loves her bother and sister a lot. especially greta. she will laugh at pretty much everything greta does. even the super annoying things like when she's playing dog ALL day long. but its really cute how hazel watches her every move, and even likes it when greta picks her up and totes her around the house.

-she loves to roll from her tummy to her back, but wont roll the other way yet. and she's totally into biting and drooling all over everything she can get her hands on thanks to those new teeth

Other than that, Hazel is basically the sweetest, happiest, baby around. i am so blessed for such a special spirit to be part of our family. I remember when i was waiting for ozzie to be born, worrying so much that i wouldnt love him as much as greta, and the same when hazel came around. it's amazing to me that you can love your kids each SO much in such different and individual ways. Hazel makes me feel calm, and happy, and her gummy little smile melts my heart, daily. Love you Hazel Felisa:)

oh and here's all the kids at 6 months

this 3 year old boy

2011-11-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

late late late. forgetful forgetful. tired tired. this is the story of my life these days. i NEED to get back to the gym or something to give me some energy and a boost! In spite of this fact, i needed to blog about my little ozzie tonite.

It just seems that since Hazel has been born he has changed SO much and has become such a big boy and it honestly breaks my heart a little cause HE was my baby not so long ago.

Birthday!!

Ozzie turned 3 in September, yes, that was almost 3 months ago, i know. but i'm blogging about it today. The weather on his birthday was predicted to be amazing so we planned for an outdoor end of the summer BBQ/party with friends at henderson. It was an amazing night, 30 degrees on Sept 10, NEVER happened in saskatoon let me tell ya. Ozzie wanted to have a Spiderman party, so i obliged of course. It was really fun, and we rented a train astrojump that was a huge hit for all of the kids! On the menu: BBQ deluxe with daddy's special chicken, hotdogs and terriaki chicken pineapple skewers and lots of yummy salads! Ozzie ate mostly vegetables as per usual. I just cant get over how well this child eats, and how MUCH he eats. it is insane.

He did however make me happy and partook of his first birthday cupcake ever! I made the coolest spiderman cucpcakes and he just had to try them. I would show a picture of them, but i got distracted by something just when i was going to take one, and then never remembered to do it later:( but they were awesome!

Ozzie got spioled with gifts, lots of cool new puzzles which his is totally into these days, a new red firetruck that shoots water, an insane green gun that he loves but drives me crazy, and lots of other great things! All in all it was a great day with friends for my big boy!

Potty Time

I contemplated whether or not to potty train ozzie before or after Hazel was born. Boy am i glad i waited until after. Ozzie had it in his mind that when he turned 3 he was a big boy, and was going to use the potty. So even though he was ready earlier than that, i thought i might as well wait till that day arrived and then get rid of the diapers completely and go from there.

So we did the Potty Boot camp right after his birthday and it worked amazingly well! Every day i thought to myself, "could it possibly be THIS easy?" He was peeing like a champ on day one, no prob, he even poo'd on the first day and was SO proud of himself! We hit a bit of a wall a few days later with the number 2 buisiness, but he figured it all out after i bribed him with a new ninja turtles movie! Every night i put him in pull ups because that's what i did with greta, but he never not once, pee'd at night. Dry every morning. i was shocked! So now he's rockin the undies, and has yet to have even one accident, go Ozzie!

Life at home

Since Greta started kindergarten ozzie has really wanted to go to school as well. I did Joy school with greta at 3 but i have had a difficult time getting enough time or energy to pull anything together for ozzie this year. He has been taking gymnastics with ben and briggs which has been so good for him and fun, so he has his own special class. and every day he asks, "Mommy is it gymnastics today?" He really loves it, and is getting more brave and some of the scarier stuff like balance beam and jumping of the high level into the foam pit! its his last class this week so i should take some pics i guess.

Ozzie loves coloring i think because Greta does. He's actually staying in the lines better and not scribbling so much and always asks me what letter "Batman" starts with. I say "B" and then he keeps coloring.

He has started playing pretend with his "Guys" as he calls them. Like batman, spiderman, or any other toy guy that can stand up on its own. its really cute to see him use his imagination, he can play for a whole hour sometimes by himself, which is really nice:)

And i know i already mentioned this, but Ozzie can out eat pretty much anyone in the family. His favorites these days, are cantalope and honeydew, toast with butter, "bunny carrots" which are just any big carrot, meat sticks, boiled eggs( whites only), and hawaiian haystacks. when he is a teenager, i am in big trouble.

Mama's boy

This is actually an understatement. I'm not sure if it's because he's not the baby anymore, or separation anxiety or something? but Ozzie wants to be with me ALL the time. He wants me to put on his clothes, turn on the light, find his blankies etc etc, when normally he would do all of these things on his own. i roll with it most of the time just to not cause drama. But it has gotten so bad that i had to come home one night from something becaus ehe would not let Dick put him to bed and was bawling his eyes out. I get frustrated by it at times, but i looks at it this way, he wont always need me SO much or want me SO much, and so i better enjoy my time with my little guy while i can.

Ozzie and I have a special bond, not sure what it is? maybe its our oversized alien heads, but i am so greatful for this boy. He is so sweet, and kind, and always the first to appologise, and says the cutest things that you want to kiss his face off. and at other times so stubborn, and determined to get his way that you want to do the opposite... whatever that is.

also, he has got his daddys natural hair curl, and deep brown eyes and it is the cutest thing of my life! gonna break some hearts some day for sure. love you Oz man!

its been awhile

2011-10-23T21:55:00.001-07:00

i find its hard once you havent blogged in awhile, to start back up. so daunting. like that pile of clean laundry that sat in the bin so long unfolded, that it becomes impossible to fold. so you just use all of the stuff in the bin, un-folded and start all over again........anyone? ok. well, maybe thats just me. but even though a million and one things have happened since the last time i posted anything, i wont attempt a complete catch up.

let's just start with greta.

First day of school!!! she was sick the day before but HAD to go!

My all grown up girl started kindergarten not long ago. and i've read all of these posts about moms being so sad seeing their kids go off to school, and must admit i felt a bit guilty. i wasn't sad really at all. you see my dear sweet greta joy has been ready to go to school for some time now. she is much too much like her mommy, and is wanting to go go go all day long. so school for her has been fantastic so far. She was a bit nervous about making friends, but she actually knows quite a few kids in her class already, so that helped a lot. now, she barely says goodbye when she heads out the door. She was glued to me when i came for snack day, but it was really fun to see her interact with her teacher and chat with her little friends. I guess maybe i wasn't so sad to see her start school because as a teacher i know all of the fun things and learning that can take place, and i was jsut excited for her to experience it.

OR maybe i'm just glad to have a break in the afternoons? or both? now we're a few months into school and i can not believe how quickly greta is learning all her sounds and sounding out and writing so many words all by herself. yesterday she sounded out skeleton all by herself as "skeliton" which is pretty darn close. she'll be reading in no time!

Greta ran the pumpkin run this year again, and she did really well. i ran with her and it was a good thing because she would have never made it otherwise. her shoes were a wee bit too tight and she complained about them the whole time! but i was proud she finished well, and did her own little sprint to the finish line! and of course got her little pumpkin:) the highlight for her actually was FINALLY getting to see one of her best friends from saskatoon miss Halle again. they were darling and a little shy at first, they we caught them sneaking off together to "catch up" we will have to do it again very soon. and i'm so sad we didnt get a pic of them together:(

with her cousins and super red faces after the race! it was HOT!!

she is a very good big sister too, for the most part. she LOVES hazel and is so sweet with her and loves to entertain and dance for her and make silly sounds etc. Hazel full on belly laughs for only greta, so cute. and as far as ozzie goes, they really are best buds. they hug everytime she leaves or comes home from school. and in the morning whoever wakes up first has the other one come snuggle in their bed, and i overheard them playing "I spy" the other morning in their pitch black room. hilarious!

now i'm not gonna lie. there are days, "like today" for example. where i have issues with my little 5 year old. she honestly talks like she is 15, and she is so picky about her clothes/hair etc. she loves to postpone anything i ask her to do so she can finish something on her own agenda. mostly usual kid stuff. but she really pushes my buttons, and i'm TRYING to have patience and remember she is only 5. but some days, it. is. hard.

recently we had out family pictures done by one of my good friends from high school. he does an amazing job, and he put almost all the pics on the disc so we could jsut see the funny ones of the kids playing etc, and well as the good ones. anyways, amongst some of the outtakes we found a striking genetic similarity, that we were not previously aware of. check these two out.

we. were. DYING!!! love this girl so much, who looks like daddy but acts like me:))

adjusting

2011-07-31T20:01:00.001-07:00

Hazel is a 3 weeks old now, and is so rad. just sayin. but it is always an adjustment when there's a new baby around. some things i forgot about having a newborn:

- how much time you spend parked on your butt nursing. and how much more difficult it is to do that with kids whining or fighting or needing things at the same time you feed the baby

- how DONE i am with changing not one, but TWO sets of diapers. operation potty train Ozzie will commence VERY soon. i can not stand it.

-how big your other kids seem with a teeny little baby in your arms. time goes by SO fast! Hazel already is plumping up, and doesn't fit newborn diapers, and is losing her hair, and i've even had to put away a couple of outfits already...sniff sniff.

- how much more attention your other kids want. ozzie wants me to do everything for him, where-as usually before Hazel was around he would settle for daddy to do things for him or by himself. he's a teeny bit jealous i think. and greta has decided she is an adult now, and is taking showers, and brushing her teeth all by herself, and has the attitude of a teenager. great.

-how GOOD little babies smell. even when they barf all over themselves( which is often) they still smell so good. if i could drink that smell i would.

-The last on my list was going to be how tired you are. and dont get me wrong, i AM tired. but for some reason, maybe summer time? maybe better recovery? maybe not having a husband in school? i feel less tired that with my other two kids. thank GOODNESS! i was a zombie for like 6 months with ozzie, and so i'm grateful for sleep. so grateful.

In other news, we've been having fun weekend get aways seeing as we're a little bit strapped to the house. From stinky Park lake, to waterton, to the raymond pool, it's been fun! Glad Dick has the weekends off, makes it so nice.

and last, i have to document a conversation i had with my Greta this week:

G: Mom, i just dont know who i should marry...i think Tyce for sure, but then that boy Dillan from the water slides was really fun and wanted to marry me too. Who should i choose?

M: well i wouldnt worry about it too much Greta, you're still very young and wont have to think about that for a long time

after a short pause

G: Well... someones gonna be disappointed.

holy cow. i'm in trouble with that girl. but at least no one can ever say my kids lack in the self esteem department:)

and baby makes 5

2011-07-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe there are 5 people in our family now. i look back when we are driving in the van and i'm surprised to see most of the seats filled. it's weird to me, i seriously feel like i'm not old enough to have, a husband, an education, a house, a mini van, and now 3 kids. i swear, it seems like last week that i was in high school and my biggest life concerns were what i was going to wear each day, and what songs were playing in my sweet 1984 camero. ANYWAYS.... nostalgia aside, here's the baby story of Hazel, it needs to be documented.

So my due date was July 12th, and seeing as i've never been early before, actually overdue both times, i figured Dick and I were safe heading to Calgary on the 8th to go see Wicked and enjoy some time alone together! In hindsight, probably not the best idea. So we left on Friday afternoon, did a little shopping, had dinner with geoff an nicki and went to the show. It. Was. Awesome. I first saw Wicked in New York and so i was anticipating it to be good, but not quite as good as in new york. but actually, it was quite comparable, and Dick really liked it too! We had a great time, and i was very un comfortable sitting for so long at that point, but not feeling anything out of the ordinary.

So we left to go to our hotel, with a quick stop in at Peter's Drive in for milk shakes on the way. The plan was to sleep over and head out glasses shopping in the morning before we went back home. A half hour after we checked into the Sheraton... 1am, first contraction. I knew it was a real one immediately because i could feel it in my back, not just my tummy. I didn't say anything to Dick because i knew if i did he wouldnt sleep at all, and i thought they'd probably just go away cause they seemed pretty weak.

1:10 am- next contraction....crap.

So i used my trusty little iphone app to time the contractions and they were staying withing the 10-12 min apart range. so while i layed there i started stressing...what if we have to go to the hospital in calgary? which one do i go to? where is it? who would deliver me? what about my mom, could she babysit longer? i think Jill has an uncle thats a Dr. in calgary, should i call him? etc. etc. etc. needless to say it was a LONG sleepless night amidst contractions.

Finally i decided that if the contractions hadn't gotten any closer together by 5:30 am, that we would take our chances and head back home. a decision that was definitely inspired. And so we left the hotel about 6 am, and drove back to lethbridge. scary. i was really worried this was gonna be one of those-side of the road- born in the back of the van-with only the cows as your witness- types of birth stories. THANKFULLY, that wasn't the case. After dick pulled out all of his nose hairs to stay awake driving home(literally), we made it back to our house and chilled for a bit until things progressed further. Phewf!!!

About 10:30am the contractions we're getting embarrassing and scary to the kids at home so we left for the hospital to make sure everything was ok, and hopefully get admitted. After they checked me in, and checked me out, i was still only 2 cm dilated. SERIOUSLY??!! i was so annoyed, it had been a really long night and morning already, but the nurse said to go for a walk and she'd check me in an hour. sure, sure. so i tried to walk, but honestly thought i was going to pass out everytime i had a contraction, so i ended back in my bed to tough it out. and thats what i did. the nurse kept saying when she looked at the monitor, "Wow, thats a big one" or "those are some fierce looking contractions." I was like, thanks tips. super helpful. Anyways, within about a half hour i was DYING, and begged to be checked again and get an epidural so i could have a break. My Dr. was not on call because it was a saturday, so i had a new Dr. with the DRYEST personality, but i was just happy that anyone would check me and get me out of this pain. Sure enough, i had gone from 2 cm to 7cm really fast and they said i could get an epidural...YEAH!!!!!!

so my IV was in, blood work done, just waiting for the anesthesiologist...who they were paging, and paging, and paging, and never showed up. turns out that when there is only one availiable in the entire hospital, he's a pretty busy guy. Dumb. stupid lethbridge. with all the mormons and hudderites around here having babies, you'd think they could get another Dr. for the maternity wing. Well, as soon as i came to terms that i was going to have to do this au-natural, i lost it. I said to Dick, "i CANT do this!" i'm sure a million times, or maybe like 3 times, but still. I was terrified. and the new 'bad personality' doctor i had been dealt, made me super paranoid about rupturing my uterus because i was having a V-bac, and actually seemed bored with the whole process. like i needed to hear this now, when i'm right in the middle of labor. So, they decided to give me some morphine which did nothing for pain and just made me completely out of it, and i began to push. Like i said, the morphine made me so tired and delirious that i could barely hear any of the coaching from the dr. or nurses, but after about a half hour of horror, i was with it enough to make out the words "It's a Girl!!!"

I was SO happy she was here, and safe, and crying, and i was SO happy those flippin contractions were over. seriously. death.

The aftermath of having a baby is never fun. With Greta it was only 2 days of recovery before i went back in for major surgery. With ozzie it was recovering from a c-section. But I'm not gonna lie, even though natural child birth was horrifying on many many levels, the recovery can not even compare to the other times for me. i feel like i could run a marathon (figuratively of course) this time around. I'm healing quick, i'm not so sore that i cant enjoy holding and snuggling my new baby, and i'm not having to take pain meds all the time to survive. and i feel relatively sane because i'm getting decent amounts of sleep. I'm so, SO grateful! I'm not even closed off to the idea of maybe...MAYBE having one more child someday...which is huge for me! When all is said and done, i'm just so blessed to have a loving husband and my 3 beautiful kids!

Welcome to the world baby Hazel!

mixed emotions

2011-07-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

wow. 5 days left...technically. can. not. believe. it.

it's about this time in my previous pregnancies that i start to freak out a bit, especially when I actually come to realize/remember that this baby is going to have to come out of my body someway, some how...very soon. i find it hard to remember from each pregnancy, certain details or differences between them. but here's a few things that come to mind this time around.

things that have NOT been helpful this time around:

-having 2 other kids to manage while being extremely tired

-not being in very good shape before i got prego

- being prego mostly during the winter= BAD eating/ snacking habits

- hip pain from Hell. seriously, i feel like a 90 year old

- drinking an entire bottle of rotten FUZE juice, and barfing my guts out one night(i know i shoudn't complain, but for a never ever barfer...it was traumatic)

- breaking not one, but BOTH of my swimsuit straps at the raymond pool due to my prego girth. (granted not my fault, the lime ricki clasps might as well be made from playdough) but it was almost a severe wardrobe malfunction)

- the most intense braxton hicks contractions ever. i feel like i've been carrying a medicine ball in my abdomen for the last 2 months

things that have SAVED my life this time around:

-having family close by to babysit for Dr.s appointments or just when i need a break. dreamy.

- NOT having my husband in school full time, nuff said.

- Mon./ Wed. nap day- just about every time greta had pre-school, i had a lay down while ozzie napped. BEST!!!

- i have been ridiculously heathly throughout the entire 9 months, even in the winter. i think i caught a head cold from my kids once. that's it!

Other small things:

- I feel like i have been carrying really high this time around and really out front, very torpedo-ish.

- this baby has been dancing or something in there from the get go, never still, especially after 10pm

- i can tell this baby is NOT breach, (thank goodness) because i can feel 10 million kicks and movements a day, and with ozzie all i felt was a giant head stuck in between my ribs.

- the kids have been so cute and sweet the last few weeks, giving the baby lots of hugs and kisses, and talking to it, and feeling it move. greta especially, so cute!

- i really have NO CLUE what we are having, and i am dying to find out. it has been torture for the last couple months

- I AM HUGE! it is getting really embarassing.

- i dont know if this may or may not be my last pregnancy. but if it is, i will really miss feeling the baby move around in there, my favorite part for sure.

- last, i feel very very blessed to have such good pregnancies. i know how difficult it is for some to get pregnant, or stay that way, or survive the 9 months in one piece. carrying a giant baby is not for the weary, but i'm grateful for everything that has led to this point. and i just pray for a semi-decent labor and delivery(i feel it's my turn) and a healthy, happy baby!

I really am excited, it's baby time.

one last hoorah!

2011-06-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

We had been wanting to get outta town for the last few weekends but it seems like there was always something going on to stay home for. We figured it would be our last family getaway with just the 4 of us, and we wanted to spend some quality time with the kids before baby time turns everything upside down. so finally we escaped to calgary on friday to the Sheraton Cavalier to sleep over. I grew up going to this exact hotel with my family all the time after we went to flames games . it was my brother and I's favorite because they had 2 sweet waterslides, and at the time was one of the only hotels that did. Years later, it is still just as rad, but now the actual hotel is WAY nicer and newly renovated and the kids were in their GLORY at the pool/ waterslides. SO fun!!! we stayed up way to late but totally worth it!

all geared up ready to swim!

yikes, too cute

greta was really brave and after a couple times down with mommy and realizing i was slowing her down BIG TIME, she was up and down those slides a billion times. and ozzie loved the one that had a tunnel and how fast he went with daddy down the slides! he's usually kind of a wuss, but he was just as gung-ho as greta, and Daddy sure got a good work out up and down the stairs!

Late night snack of cucumbers and goldfish and juice, watching max and ruby in a king size bed! doesnt get much better than that for my kids:)

In the morning it was supposed to maybe rain, but looked ok out so we thought we'd have a nice breakfast and head to the zoo for the morning. I'm not much of a fancy breakfast maker so my kids were super excited to have waffles and sausage, and juice all in the same meal. it cost a small breakfast fortune but good because we didn't have to buy gross zoo hotdogs etc. cause we were still full from breakfast.

The last time we went to the zoo last summer we checked out the dinosaur exhibit and ozzie was terrified of the roaring sounds they made! Dick had to take him out because he was screaming so loud! so this year we were hopeful he would like it way more because he's totally into dinosaurs, and so we headed in, and it looks like ozzie wasn't the only kid freaked out of the noises because they removed all of the moving parts, and sounds that the dinosaurs made! so now actually, it is kind-of lame, but ozzie was still happy to see Tri-ceratops!

We usually don't let the kdis do the rides and stuff at the zoo and try to spend most of the time looking at the animals, but they were more than thrilled to hit up the merry-go-round for the first time this year. ozzie chose the bat because we had just seen some, and greta hopped on a froggy, no surprise there.

It was a great trip to the zoo, and the kids were excited that the penguins were coming next year. we used a 2 for 1 cupon and so felt justified in leaving by about 1. and the kids we SOOOOO tired that ozzie barely made it back to the van and was asleep instantly in his car seat, even before we started driving!

The rest of the day we headed over to chinook mall which was a bit depressing for me, i'm not gonna lie. being this prego, and not knowing what were having, and seeing all of the cute summer clothes that were on sale was a bit hard to swallow. but we had fun at the cool kids toy store for like an hour while daddy did some much needed shorts shopping and a rendezvous at the apple store! I wasn't totally dis-satisfied however because i did get my way and we went to Joeys for dinner and i indulged in my favorite lettuce wraps and diva salad. mmmmm, diva salad.

Anyways, all in all it was a great time, and i'm so glad we got to escape one last time before this baby pops out( as greta says)....sigh...if only it was that easy:)

oh, and here's gretas adorable picture she made of the her favorite zoo animals when we got home. (Elephant, giraffe, tiger, and a few birds and a turtle)she is quite the little artist, and she tried to write I (heart) the Animals( in picture form!) so cute!

hot date

2011-06-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

On Friday Greta had a busy afternoon planned with a swimming birthday party and a primary party immediately following. She was in her GLORY! to say the least, and completely entertained so i was able to go on a hot date with my favorite little boy.

I already feel like i dont get enough one on one time with ozzie, and with the new baby showing up real soon, its only going to get worse. so i was Really glad to spend some time with him, un-interrupted.

I asked him where he wanted to go most, the pet store or the park? he chose pet store, no surprize there. and i must admit, as lame as lethbridge is when it come to activities for kids and families, they do have a fantastic pet store that we frequent often. Ozzie loves to find the "nemo" fish, and pet the bunnies, and he even got to feed one some lettuce, or "dinner" as he called it. I usually let him roam free in the reptile zone, seeing as i cant be within a meter of a caged snake, but he loves to see the turtles and snakes the most.

After the pet store we went to help Greta change out of her swim stuff, and then we went out for dinner, also known as "Chicken and Fries" according to ozzie. We were at dairy queen, and he was so cute just sitting waiting at the table patiently for our food to be ready. So i took the time to ask him some typical date type questions:

Q- what's your favorite color? - green...and, um.....blue. ya. green and blue mommy.

Q- whats your favorite thing to eat? - juice. (me- well thats a drink, what about food?) um....cantalope and melomelon(watermelon) which is totally true, he can eat half a cantalope in one sitting no problem.

Q- what do you want to be when you grow up? - ........................... a little boy.

Q- do you like being 2? - ya, sure! i'm 2! can i have some more juice?

Anyways, it was really cute. i love how much he talks and hearing his sweet little voice and enthusiasm about everything!

After we took greta to her next party, we got a couple groceries and headed to the park because it wasnt raining for once. I pulled up to the park, and he said, "Were going to the park too!!!??? YEAH, THE PARK!!!!!!! thanks mommy, so so much!! and then, my heart melted:)

We had fun playing and swinging (which is his favorite thing to do, and playing chase, even though i'm pretty slow moving these days so it wasnt much of a challenge for him to "get away" from me.

It was a perfect afternoon date with my Oz. We definatley need to do it again really soon!

In other news, the kids are FINALLY sharing a room. we put it off and put it off only because i knew it would shake things up around here, including our sleep patterns. but so far so good. they go to bed great, which is nice. the only problem is the middle of the night pee breaks from greta or leg aches or bad dreams. she's woken up ozzie a few times already, and once he's awake its difficult to convince him that its still night time and to go back to sleep. anyways, we're working on it, but i love how cute they are when i come in to get them in the morning, just talking, or making dog sounds, or singing popcorn popping. adorable.

one more ozzie story form a couple days ago so i dont forget. we were at costco and i usually make him sit in the cart, but it was pretty dead in the store so i let him walk with greta, which he loves. but he's started this new thing in stores where he likes to hide, and it a) gives me a heart attack when i cant see him and b) makes me so annoyed. So he was hiding and i told him if he hid again he'd have to get back in the cart. so we continue along for a minute and he asks, "Mommy can i still walk?" i said, "Sure, buddy you can walk." Then he asks, "Can I skip to my lou?"..... what am i supposed to say to that? the cutest question of all time? "sure ozzie, go ahead" and he proceeds to do the cutest jump/skip move beside the cart while we shopped. I. was. dying.

life is good:)

Happy Feet!

2011-05-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

Tonite was Greta's first "official" dance recital on the big stage! Her group was called Happy Feet, and they were dressed like little frogs with tutu's and did a tap number to a Kermit the frog song. (I say official, because we missed her show last year by about 2 weeks because we moved, it was very sad.) anyways, to say she was excited is an understatement for sure! These were the things(according to her) she was most excited about in random order:

- Dancing on the big girl stage

She did SO good! i'm not just saying that. The kids all came out in a line and were a little late getting to their spots before the music started, but Greta picked up what they were supposed to be doing right away, and was shuffle stepping her heart out! SO cute! i was beaming, and so was she:)

- wearing mommys makeup

I did her makeup and told her that she couldnt peek until i was done and that it was a surprise. She could hardly stand it. When i let her look she gasped and said, "Oh mommy i look so beautiful!" it was really cute, she actually seemed shocked by the fact. One thing i learned putting stage makeup on Greta...i'm gonna have to keep a close eye on her as a teenager, yikes, she liked it WAY too much!

All dolled up, ready to go. She has those Crazy eyes kids get when their REALLY excited about something!

- having "extra" curly hair that bounces

we have only been letting her hair continue to grow until this recital was over because they were supposed to have hair in a half pony tail, curly. It looked really cute, but now we BOTH cant wait for the big CHOP next week! It was funny during her dance though, i noticed she kept flipping her curls back behind her shoulders whenever she got the chance:)

- Having her best cousin Kaiya, and Aunt Nicki, and Grandma and Mommy in the audience to watch and cheer

The timing this weekend was really bad, Gretas class was supposed to perform originally on WEd. night so Dick would have been able to come before he left to vancouver for the weekend. Then they switched the schedule and he ended up being away tonite. Sad. but Greta had her other family fan club, and sweet Kaiya sat thought 19 hundred dances and we didnt get out of there until 10:30, poor thing! Greta was beaming though that she came to watch her, so nice to have the support of family!

-Watching the "Big Girls" do some of their dances

This was probably her favorite part!

All in all it was a great night! I am so proud of my little girl for doing a great job! It brought back a LOT of memories, of dance in general, and the dance "world", how much i LOVEd it and made so many good good friends, and also how crappy the yates is. Come ON lethbridge!!

** oh, and you'll notice i have NO pictures of her in her costume because they are Nazi's and dont let any parents NEAr their kids backstage, even for a quick photo. lame. we'll just have to wait until we get her real pictures i guess.

the first 15...

2011-05-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

It always seems like May is a really busy month for us. Not too sure why, but the first half of the month this year has definitely been eventful.

Some highlights...

*Ozzie started sleeping in his Big Boy bed, in preparation for him to share a room with Greta asap. He had NO toubles with the change, actually welcomed it, and looks so cute and big now when he goes to sleep.

*Mothers Day weekend was LOVELY! My cousin Maray who lives in utah had called a month ago and said she would be coming up to Calgary, for the "Time out for Women" conference with one of the presenters. She asked if my mom and i and nicki would like to come and have reserved seats and sit with her at the front. So we left on the Friday night (without kids) and got to enjoy a fantastic conference and VIP seats which was really nice. I really learned a lot of things at the conference and it was a much needed, spiritual uplift, and a great 2 day event! We even snuck in a little IKEA, and lettuce wraps from Joeys on the way home. Perfect!

When i got home late saturday night i found some beautiful purple roses and some homemade cards on the table from my DH and kids. It was very sweet!. On Mother's day Sunday, i woke up to waffles and sausages and OJ for breakfast, and had a great relaxing day with my family! (only regret, is i have no pictures)

* Joseph Smith stopped by our Family Home Evening the other night, which was a special treat! He shared his experience of restoring the Gospel with the kids. And Greta was VERY excited!! She asked, "Joseph, what did you do with my daddy?" she was very believing, and ozzie was right into it too. Good Lesson Daddy! ...i mean, Joseph...who knew the Justin Bieber wig would come in handy more than once?

*Spring has SPRUNG!!! finally. We have been spending a LOT of time outside, bike rides, wagon rides, and best of all the kdis have been LOVING the trampoline, jumping together, at the same time, no fights, or crying. truly a miracle! I think its mostly due to ozzie who finally understands the fact that its ok to fall down when you are on the tramp.

* Finally... quick as it has gone, it also has seemed a long time coming for Greta to have her 5th birthday. She's seen her cousins and a few friends turning five for the past little while and has been wondering when it is her turn? I, on the other had have been looking forward to it. Greta is kind-of an old soul in a lot of ways, and her turning 5 and getting ready for kindergarten next year just seems right.

the day before her birthday she had lots going on, it was her special day at pre-school, and she asked for pink and purple cupcakes, which i of course complied to and they were very tasty i must say. Then she thought bringing some of her things from Disneyland would be good for show and tell. She did a really good job, and was quite captivating:)

On her actual Birthday, (the 12th) she got to have waffles for breakfast which are her favorite, and then we opened a few presents from the family. She had been asking for a scooter since last summer and so after a very long winter, we finally delivered. She is actually really good on it already, and was so excited to have a new pink helmet too! Ozzie gave her the Rapunzel barbie that sings songs from "Tangled" which she loved, and we rounded out the gifts with a few new summer clothes.

It was GORGEOUS outside that morning, so the kids spent most of it in the yard, and then we got to go to henderson park in the afternoon and play with friends. It was a perfect way to spend her birthday. Greta has been lucky to have really good friends that just have happened to move close by, which is so nice. She was giggling her brains out with Elias, and for anyone who knows Gretas laugh, it was pretty stinkin cute. I just loved to see her so happy on her special day!

Finally on Friday the 13th(EEK) we planned a Tangled birthday party for Greta at the church with 12 of her close little buddies. thats right, i said 12. We couldn't leave anyone out, and she has a lot of boy friends, so we had to keep a gender friendly theme, and so it was.

I'd spent some time planning the party, but as usual, at the last minute theres always a billion loose ends to tie up. I thought i might go crazy. But all in all, it was a great party!

The kids colored tangled pictures, made "pascal" from the movie, played pin the nose on Flynn Rider, and some relay games then spent time jumping on the bouncers my brother and sis n law generously provided. It was an evening party, and so we had lots of snacks, and then an attempt at rapunzels tower surrounded in cupcakes. It did NOT turn out at all as i had planned, but thank goodness for Dick's wisdom in the engineering department, and nicki's skewers, it was able to stay standing long enough to sing Happy Birthday!

Greta had a blast, and of course we rounded out the event with a pinata, which i'm not gonna lie, i'm not a huge fan of. But Greta REALLY wanted one, and was so excited when she got to help me fill it up with surprises and candy.

The kids were really good at the party, and hopefully everyone had fun! After clean up, and hometime, it realized i hadn't sat down AT ALL in aprox. 12 hours. So needless to say, i payed for that one the next day. I still have a slight birthday party hangover, if truth be told. but it was all worth it for my little girl!

* oh and really LAST but not least, we gave ozzie a much needed head buzz, and he looks so cute and old now, should have done it months ago!

Here's to the next 15 days, and then its JUNE, yikes!!! this baby is coming faster than i could have ever imagined, I'm. Not. Ready.

Easters

2011-04-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend! nothing major going on, but the weather FINALLY was decent so we tried to take advantage as much as possible.

Dick had friday off and we spent most of the day trying to catch up on chores and our 9 million projects around the house. Then on saturday we were able to go to henderson with our friends the Guenthers and stay for like 2 hours because it was so nice out! un-heard of so far this spring. the highlight of the afternoon was walking along the edge of the lake and Greta discovering some "lobster claws" as she called them. which in actuality, they were the remains of all of the dead cray-fish that had been eaten by the birds...sick. nasty. i was gagging. but all of the kids thought they were SO cool, and each of them had hand fulls of little pinchers, they even found some almost complete dead body carcasses. seriously, how do kids think that is cool?

Easter morning we enjoyed some bunny time, and a few extra large hidden eggs around the house

They loved these wind up chicks and bunnies i found

the extra large eggs were a big hit too, they are still playing with them, and make pretty nice hats i think!

Then it was go go go, the rest of the day. Unfortunately, sundays can be like that sometimes. I had to teach my reg. sunday school class, and then gretas primary class immediately after. Greta had to give a talk on the Resurrection, and Dick had all of his regular church meetings, plus he had to do tithing. So needless to say it was a very busy Easter Sunday. The kids however looked ADORABLE in their Easter outfits, i must say!

We got to relax at my mom and dad's after for the BEST easter Feast of my LIFE! seriously, my mom makes turkey dinner like no other. I've never had gravy so good, never. Nicki made the stuffing and brought some divine buns, and we rounded things out with some Acini de pepe salad, and sweet potatoes that we're basically dessert. yikes. so, so good. Like i mentioned it was beyond beautiful on Sunday, no wind and warm. So we let the kids get in one last easter egg hunt behing Grandmas house and they loved it! Ozzie was pretty good at finding the hard ones, and Greta had her game face on trying to find as many eggs as fast as possible! We actually saw the "Easter Bunny" run accross the green strip before the egg hunt, which was cute cause Greta asked "where is she gonna keep all the eggs? she doesn't have a basket?"

love this one of greta

The whole gang, the only pic with everyone looking up and not at their eggs!

After the kids were in bed that night we got to spend some much needed downtime, and watch a beautiful video on the life of the Savior. It was a perfect way to end the day! Dick was back to work on monday, but it was so nice just to chill and spend some time together as a family, and enjoy the holiday! Happy Easter!

Egged

2011-04-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

So we did a super fun FHE last night and i thought i'd share because there's a few more days until Easter and maybe someone might need a fun activity to do this week!

I stumbled upon a website that honestly i can't find anymore, (i HATE when that happens) it was a link off of a blog or something. anyways, i loved the ideas on there and found this one about "egging" someone. So basically it's like a "Heart Attack" but with eggs. You just pick a family or neighbor to "Egg" run around their yard hiding eggs for them to find, leave a cute little note saying "You've been EGGED!", ring the doorbell and RUN!

The main reason i really loved this idea is because we did this sort-of thing in my family growing up quite often. My mom is big into "pixie-ing" people with things, and doing it anonymously. And i remember many different' occasions doing her drop-offs for her and loving the feeling of being a little scared of getting caught, and the glory of the get-a-way!

So we've been trying to focus on the real meaning of Easter all month for FHE, and it's been going pretty good, but last night after a short lesson on Service and helping others...(like really short, opening song, prayer and 2 scriptures) the kdis helped me fill up some eggs with treats, we picked our families and away we went to Egg some houses!

I WISH i had some pictures, it was really cute/hilarious! If someone was watching the four of us pile out of the van with our Easter baskets, , trying to keep ozzie sort of quiet and NOT open all the eggs he was hiding, telling Greta not to be scared that even if we got caught it was ok, and then the finale....Me, 6.5 months preg-town, ringing the doorbell, and then "Running" away! Hahaha, oh man, it would have been hilarious, i can't stop laughing even thinking about it!

anyways, all in all, good family fun! On the way home, Greta said, mommy, i LOVE doing service, especially when it's scary! So go EGG someone this week, before it's too late!

oh, and here's the printable

http://www.box.net/shared/0tlaqte5pe

overheard...

2011-04-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

while hiding in a fort together...

G- hey ozzie, wanna talk about some secrets?

O- ya, sure!

G- ok, you go first. tell me about you life, and your dreams.

O- um...um...i'm the bad spiderman, and you're the good spiderman.

G- oh really, that's cool. ok, my turn....i took my kinder egg from grandmas house and ate it in my room, it was Soooo good!

just wanted to document their cuteness. the end.

The BIG 3-0!!

2011-04-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Richard turned 30 this Saturday, and I wanted to make it really special for him!

The preparations actually started months ago when i tried to decide what to get him for a gift. I don't know about YOUR husbands, but mine tends to always want semi-expensive technological devices, and just orders them for himself and says, that can be his birthday present. ANNOYING! So i wasn't about to let that happen this time. I banned him from buying or ordering anything, and started to think. I really wanted to surprise him with a little man-trip somewhere just to get away from windy lethbridge, and give him some time off from work/ family/ church pressures for just a little while. So after considering many options, I decided the best thing would be a Golf vacation to Vancouver where he could see his family a little, golf with some good friends, and enjoy a change of scenery that wouldn't cost a fortune!

Anyways, so with those plans more or less taken care of, I helped the kids make some cards, and we delivered cupcakes to his office staff, and balloons, and lunch on the day before his actual birthday. The kids were so cute and excited to pick out a special balloon from each of them. Ozzie picked one with cars on it, and Greta picked blue stars because daddy likes blue the best. They were so excited to deliver everything and i loved seeing their little faces light up when they get to do service!

Saturday was his actual birthday, so I got up and made waffles, which for a never make anything-other-than-toast-or-cereal-for-breakfast type of mom was a big deal. And he does LOVE waffles! Then after opening a few small gifts, and looking out the window at the ridiculous snow storm we stayed low for most of the morning and enjoyed playing the Michael Jackson experience game for the Kinnect. Dick is a huge MJ fan, and is pretty stellar at the game already, even though it's super hard. good gift from the kids:)

Waiting patiently for the waffles to be ready

Present time

We spent the afternoon out at the Childrens festival, which for Lethbridge was pretty good. I was actually shocked they even had anything like this here, (it was the first time) but the kids had a good time. they had baby chicks and bunnies as part of the petting zoo which ozzie was thrilled about and has been asking to see. And Greta was mesmerized by the dog show, she couldnt believe that dogs could jump over things so fast and run through tunnels, and do so many tricks. it was pretty sweet.

Ready to go out into the blizzard

My mom came over to babysit at night and we were able to go out to eat with some good friends and family at a new restaurant called PLUM. It was fun to get out and try somewhere new, without kids spilling on you, or eating all of your food(ozzie) or asking to go pee a million times in the nice bathrooms(greta). Oh and they had a mars cheesecake that was heaven in my mouth. just sayin.

Finally to round out the three day event, i made some DELISH birthday cupcakes that we took over to my moms for dinner tonite, and we were able to have cake and chill with my whole family.

Phewf...i'm tired. But it was all worth it to say happy Birthday to the best Husband and father a girl could ask for. I love you babe. Happy,Happy,Birthday!!!

oh what do you do in the....??

2011-03-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

never ending wintertime? when it wont stop snowing or being windy everyday?

ok. its not that bad. but i seriously feel like we still live in saskatoon sometimes, this winter has been SO long for me for some reason. anyways. here's some pics of how we've been spending the (hopefully) last few- stuck inside- days of almost spring:)

playing spiderman and island girl

jumping off the bed onto every blanket/pillow we own

ozzie is getting some sweet air in this one

okay last one- the split jump

modelling new gumboots

dreaming of days we can wear them outside

drink in unison from matching sippy cups while making stare faces

horsey rides when daddy comes home

clearly a really soggy diaper makes this way more fun

We also took a spontaneous trip to Great falls this past weekend to get the grump out of me mostly. We stayed at a new Holiday inn express with a sweet indoor waterslide and kid area. oh and don't be fooled by ozzie's sad face in this pic, he was beyond thrilled the entire time, he was just mad i was blocking the tv. We also found a restaurant called Salad Creations, and fell in love, our whole family loves salad! and of course we got in some shopping, mostly stuff for the kids room, but a few trinkets for the baby and some yummy new fabric for me to dive into. All in all, Good hotel, good food, good shopping, it was a much needed get- the heck out of lethbridge- away!

other than that, i'm DYING for some spring weather so i can get on with the my 90 projects i have planned between now and the baby coming. the list goes like this:

a) finish sanding and painting the kids 10 dollar beds that i got and put them together so ozzie can finally get out of his crib

b) paint and decorate the kids room and the babys room

c) sand and paint the awesome vintage dresser i found

d) finally hang our family pictures in the Living room before we have to change the pictures in the frames

e)make a baby quilt and maybe a new nursing cover( yikes, i'm not a sewer) but i have good instructions on the tutorial so we'll see how it goes

f) if time and my sanity allows-potty train the ozzie

oh and here's the first and potentially last pic of my prego belly@ 25 weeks. i'm not counting down yet, but it ain't gonna get pretty from here on in. i'm predicting biggest baby yet....shudder.

disney mania

2011-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

*** WARNING- SUPER long Travel log- if you don't read any of this, no worries.***

so we took off last monday for Disneyland and let me just say what a FUN trip it was! First of all, my mom had 19 billion ( or something like that) airmiles saved up and so as our Christmas gift she was able to fly my whole family (us, my bro and his kids, and her) all to California for free! plus she decided to use even more airmiles to pay for our hotel accommodations too for the whole week! it was amazing! our hotel alone would have been $299 a night, plus it was right across the street from California adventure(the other half of Disneyland) so the location was the best! We could have never afforded to go without that huge help, so thanks again mom a million times over!

We had so much fun, we did 3 days at Disneyland/ California adventure, and one day down at sea world, and a couple days shopping and such!

Our first day i was in heaven, from the warm temperatures, to actually hearing birds chirping outside our window the day started out perfect! I'm positive the kids didn't know what to expect, and as soon as we all saw Mickey it started to come to life!

greta was so happy to see the castle, she wanted to go in the minute we got there

It was so fun how random characters would just stroll down the street totally in character like they had somewhere to go, it was fun for the kids to be surprised of who was gonna show up next. like Cruella Deville for example, or Mr. Incredible.

We started off the rides with a huge hit, the Buzz lightyear ride, where you get to shoot Zurg and all his alien guys. The Buzz was really cool and animated, and actually moved and talked and gave us our mission, Ozzie's eyes were huge, the whole time it was so cute! then he got to shoot buzz guns, so needless to say it was his favorite ride for sure.

i love his little face in this one, he was SO happy!

later that day greta got to fulfill her dream of meeting tinkerbell at pixie hollow. this was so fun for us, Ozzie was asleep in the stroller with grandma and so we just waited in line with greta. she was so excited and believing about all of the fairy stuff she saw, and she was convinced that the closer we got to tinkerbell the smaller we were getting from all the pixie dust. all of the grass and flowers were getting so big! It was cute, such a fun age to take her there when she still believes it!

we spent the rest of that first day at toontown with goofys house and such, and fantasy land. and then by about 6:30 called it a great day, and headed for The Cheescake Factory for dinner. For anyone that hasn't been there, it is a MUST. So good, and so much better than the cheesecake cafe...sorry. We ate so much but had to to get cheesecake of course, so we brought it back to our room and had peanut butter chocolate heaven cheesecake for breakfast the next day. Doesn't get much better than that for a prego i don't think:)

The next day we wanted to take advantage of the decent weather because we were expecting rain so we decided to go to the California Adventure park which is right beside Disneyland. It was fantastic! i may have even liked it better. They had a whole world dedicated to "a Bugs life" and the line ups were way shorter everywhere, and it just seemed easier to get around and not so crowded. Ozzie's highlight was seeing "McQueen and Mater" in the flesh, very cool.

Chip and dale! Greta asked them if they were Alvin's cousins:)

A bugs life- land, so cute and fun!

Ozzie HAD to drive everything he could get his hands on, which made for a bumpy ride, and even a bit of whiplash i think, but he loved it!

This was one of many classic spinny rides, but the kids never got sick of it. love greta's face, she had so much fun with her cousins!
Don't know what we would have done without grandma on this trip! she babysat, took turns on rides, paid for too many things, and made it all possible! It was so fun to see the kids get to spend so much time with her, thanks again momma SO much!!

SULLY!! Greta was sad he was too big to sign her book, but went in for a hug anyways!

The Tower of Terror. I just had to show that the kids and Daddys actually went on this ride. It is super spooky, and drops from very high heights, i couldn't believe greta didn't spaz. Dick said she was laughing the whole time.

We decided to stay late this night until the world of color show was on, and it was totally worth being cold and waiting an hour for it to start. I can't even describe how awesome it was, but if you ever go to Disneyland it is a MUST SEE!!!

The giant Mickey ferris wheel that ozzie affectionately called the "Rainbow Ride" was really awesome at night!

We took a disneyland break the next few days, did some shopping, went to Midevil Times for dinner one night which (again) is hard to explain, but was quite the experience, and then headed to Sea World.

lego-land

We loved midevil times, even though ozzie had to sit on my lap the whole time and peed through his diaper on me. It was awesome. Lots of great food, no cutlery, lots of choreographed violence, horses, cheesy music, and cheering! The kids, and Dick were REALLY into it. my poor mom sitting right beside him. I think Kaiya actually was the loudest one in our whole section! good times.

The kids and the sleeping polar bears

SHAMU?? I actually missed the first part of the show, so i dont know if this is really shamu or not? Whomever it was, it was great! Seaworld was really cool. About an hour and half beautiful drive to Sandiego but totally worth it and a nice break. The highlights were the emperor penguins, ginormous walrus', dolphin show and shamu show. The kids got to feed some bat rays which was awesome, and they loved watching the sea lions eat too.

We had a lot planned for our last day at Disneyland so we started out early. The kids loved the Toy Story mania. they saw Jesse, and Woody, and Mr. Potatoe head and all sorts.

Matching Cheesy Grins

Cousins in a box for sale!

We had planned to take just the girls to "Ariel's Grotto" which is a special lunch where you get to meet at least 4 of the princesses. Greta and Kaiya were really excited, and i was happy to sit and eat, instead of waiting in 2 hour line ups just to meet one or two of them. It was fantastic! But before i show a few pictures from our lunch, i wanted to show what Dick and Ozzie did while we were in there. Daddy bought one of these:
And let Ozzie have free reign.
There is hilarious video of ozzie eating it, but for some reason its not uploading right, but i'll put it on here one of these days. priceless. he is such a savage.

Back to our Princess Lunch... Ariel was waiting at the front to greet everyone, and Greta asked her why she wasn't wearing her tail and sea shells?

It was seriously so awesome to sit and relax and have the princesses go from table to table visiting everyone, instead of the line ups. Not to mention the food was really good! gretas favorite was belle for sure. she loved her dress and hair the most. And the only one we didnt see was jasmine, whom greta said was probably out with Aladdin somewhere:)

the girls were so cute, and had so much fun together!

Before we left we had one more run in with a few Characters like Stitch, whom my kids really love, and of course a picture in front of the Castle! The fireworks that night were by far the best ones i've ever seen live. All done to music and such, it was a great way to leave Disneyland!

We left one last day to pack and shop, and Greta really wanted to go to the beach. We picked Newport because it was the closest to our hotel, and it was gorgeous! Greta could have stayed and picked shells all day. All in all, a great time. And it was SO much fun to go with my Brother and his family and my mom. It wouldn't have been nearly as fun without them! Till next time.

greta joy- unplugged

2011-02-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

some background. sometime last year Greta discovered the movie "The Chipmunks the Squeakual" or whatever it's called. She. Loves. It. In the show i guess they sing quite a few "pop" songs in chipmunk fashion( i've never really watched it). So in the summer last year she would frequently, (and not quietly) present the whole neighborhood her "Shows."

You may recognize the songs even though not entirely accurate lyric wise:) These make me giggle, i love my little star!

gems

2011-01-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

i found a few little gems stashed on the camera roll on my hand me down i-phone. they needed to be blogged about.

greta joy. this picture is so her. Hair tossled and un-done, wearing a shirt that i've tried to pack away a million times because it is too short, and yet it somehow manages to find its way back into her wardrobe. big beautiful brown eyes that never seem to look at the camera, and the sweetest smile possible.

i'm really hard on greta i think. not too sure why? i have to constantly remind myself she's only 4 because sometimes she does NOT act like it...at all. maybe it's because she's the oldest, or a girl, but i see so many similar characteristics in our personalities, that i know that is why we butt heads often. I expect a lot from her, and 99% of the time she delivers. but i know i need to ease up and really give her more credit for being a good sister, an obedient daughter, and a very spiritually in-tune little child of God. she says the most meaningful prayers every day. like - blow me away- exactly what needs to be said- kind of prayers. i'm so grateful for her, and even though we're both excited for her to start school in the fall, i will miss her at home so much. and i love being her mommy every day.

Oz. or what i like to refer to as the cutest non-little boy in the world. he's my baby(for now) what can i say? I have the hugest soft spot for him, and if he does something bad(which he rarely does) he usually gets away with it in an instant. due to his adorable talking, slight lisp, huge snowman belly, and those eyes. oh man, those eyes get me every time.
i love this pic because he's a) in my bathroom and most likely just pulled one square of toilet paper off the roll and threw it in the toilet and flushed b) he's wearing a shirt that guaranteed he picked out for the day because he never lets me pick out his clothes anymore, and c) he's wearing one of the many toques daddy has made for him, and he LOVES them and wears them around the house all day until he gets sweaty.
if i could freeze ozzie at this moment in his life i would. i love how excited he gets about anything green, or how independent he wants to be, or how he's quick to say i'm sorry first and give greta a hug, even when she has been the one in the wrong. love him. 2 and a half. prally about 40 pounds. still my baby for a few more months:)

Daddy Hartmut Jahn. ( as Greta calls him) I still don't think she gets that we have other real first names. anyways, this pic is a gem to me because it shows dick's healthy addiction to Monavie, his lovely overgrown McDreamy hair doo, and his devotion in going to church meetings after almost 12 hours of work, in the late hours of the day. I'm not gonna get all mooshy here. but sometimes i feel like we're still in university and just first dating. i really get those excited feelings to see him, and laugh at all of his ridiculous jokes, and even try and get out of jammies by the time he comes home from work:) seriously though, he. is. the. best.

now, neither he or I will ever claim that he's a romantic. but he is thoughtful, and brought down 2 glasses of sparkling apple juice (champagne) for the rose ceremony on the bachelor the other night. and he lets me sleep in on his one day of the week that he gets the chance to sleep in.
i could go on.

needless to say. i'm feeling very blessed today. and i can't leave out this little baby in my belly either, who just tonite i believe made his/her presence known with the first kick that i could feel. life is flying by, and i'm so grateful for the moments i get to remember how blessed i truly am.

3 strikes

2011-01-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

Strike one: Greta made it all the way into the library bathroom stall, and then pee'd her pants standing right in front of the toilet.

Strike two: Ozzie ran excitedly down the drive-way to show me an icicle he found. Before i could slow him down he face planted on the cement, and broke his icicle.

Strike three: I just became fully aware that the only jeans i like and that fit me these days, have a growing hole right in the front of the crotch.

time for bed. i'm so out.

i forgot...

2011-01-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

the 3 things i always seem to forget about being pregnant, that never cease to amaze me:

3. How stupid you get

2. How itchy you feel

1. How annoying it is to have to go pee so bad and then....trickle.

:)

Fooky

2010-11-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile cause everyday there is something new. But lately, Ozzie is hilarious. His words and sentences kill me. seriously. I forgot how stinkin cute this phase is. maybe cause Greta was talking so clearly at an early age, it seems like a million years ago. ANYWAYS, back to me little ozzie.

Some of our favorites over the past bit are:

"Fooky, Fooky, Haoween fuff" - Spooky, spooky halloween stuff

"I come, Ba-yeah"- I come , Ballet. He says this anytime i take greta to pre-school or lessons. so cute.

" Carry you"- Whenever he wants you to pick him up, or carry him somewhere

" Greda, eat it"- If i ever give him anything to eat that he's not into, or doesnt want to finish, he very convincingly says, "greda, eat it." over, and over again.

Also, he is 100% obsessed with the color green. Like i dont even know how he knows his colors already, but he knows green, and blue. but asks for green EVERYTHING. if its not in a green bowl, with a green spoon, and a green cup, he wont touch it. He only plays with he green marbles, green blocks, green choo choos etc. so weird and cute.

also, hes been so sick this past month. He had the flu when i was in NY. then he got croup a few days after i got home and its been non-stop. but whenever he's so sick he says, " Medice. mommy. better." meaning, give me some medicine already woman so i can get better. haha. what kid asks for medicine? I had to take him to the ER one night cause his croup was really bad, and he acted like it was Christmas morning the whole time we were there, running around, playing peek a boo, dancing. it was ridiculous. i'm sure thats why it took us 3 hours to get some steroids for him and be on our way.

one more ozzie moment, he was this adorable hamburger for halloween, and now he thinks it is a coat substitute. anytime we go out he says, "hamburger?" cause thats the coat he wants to wear. i give in sometimes, just cause he's adorable.

when its not windy...

2010-10-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

when its not windy i feel liberated here. like we can go anywhere and do anything we want, even if its a bit chilly, who cares. when its windy, it might as well be 40 below outside because i can't force myself out in the headache causing, tree snapping, leaf wrecking, nightmare. luckily, last week was gorge city, no wind, quite warm and we took advantage.

we spent family home evening attempting to organize the garage and busting out the portable campfire for some roasted mallows, the kids loved it!

Then we went out to a petting zoo outside of coaldale one last time, even thought they were technically closed for the season. Greta would not leave the kittens alone, and they were pretty cute even though i hate cats.

Oz holding it by the poo hole...great.

But nothing compares to the cuteness that is him:

or them:
or they:

I still cant believe we didn't come home with one of them. only time will tell. but seriously, 9 beagle pups, i couldn't even handle it.

we've also been at the park a lot. henderson is one of our faves and there's a new park out in sunridge that is pretty awesome. i attempted some pics but failed mostly. still good times.

no he wasn't "unloading" here, they were looking at a grasshopper, easily confused

haha, ozzie was sad i made him stop throwing rocks, typical.

"CHEESE"

love briggs in this one

just a top-o-the slide meeting with the boys

gathering for a "campfire"

just love this one of my big boy

Quasimoto

2010-10-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

ozzie had a little cold and then puffy eyes one morning and we thought nothing of it. turns out it was pink eye, and he lovingly passed it onto mommy. except turns out i had it so bad that even my optometrist (Austin Hornberger(ha)) was grossed out. nice, real nice.
(sorry for the explicit content, don't lose your lunch)

count down

2010-09-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

counting down the hours until ALL afternoon pre-school on monday. about 38 'ish i'd say.
cant. wait.

okay this pic makes me laugh so hard, and as i'm writing this i'm reminded of a previous pic of Greta making basically the same face years ago...

classic.

HAPPY PRE-SCHOOL GRETA!!!
** Note** Greta picked this outfit out ENTIRELY by herself. i was quite impressed.
however, i would have gone with a skinny jean instead of the skirt. just sayin:)

not so terrible 2's

2010-09-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

***warning- this post is long and picture crazy***

I don't want to jinx it but the past couple months with Mr. Ozzie have been fantastic. He sleeps like the dead, eats everything in site, and overall is beyond stinkin cute. He just turned 2 this week. 2 I say. yikes. time for another? not likely. BUT we did get to have a few festivities for our little guy in spite of us all being sick on our death beds ALL last weekend.

Ozzie has been into nothing but Dinosaurs ever since we took him to the Calgary Zoo to the dino exhibit. He was so excited to see them, and then someone pushed a button and they started to roar. well, that was the end of it, he screamed bloody murder the rest of the time there, and dick literally was running to get him outta there so he'd finally calm down. funny. So then, somehow my kids ended up watching Ice age 3 (dawn of the Dinosaurs) shortly after that, and he was all of the sudden hooked. All he kept saying all day long was "Dido...Roar!" 5 million times. So that is how i decided on a dinosaur theme for his little party.

We went to Nicholas Sheran to swim first cause he loves the little slide there, and then we had snacks and cake with a few friends after. it was really cute, and fun, and ozzie got spoiled big time.

the only swimming pic i got, but he looks so cute and big in this one

the spread+ karen(sorry i HAD to put this one in, made me laugh:)

just eatin'

playing with his glow n' the dark dino, from his cupcake he didn't touch. should have had birthday corn on the cob, THAT he would have eaten:)
Stage left

Stage right

cooper of course, who loved the pepperoni's like no one else:)

i think the icing was a Little bit messy

Present time, and ALL the kids wanted in on it, so cute

Later that day we just hung out, played with toys and such. His actual birthday was the next day, and originally dick was supposed to work all day and then leave for saskatoon, but seeing as people like to cancel dental work lots in september, he had the morning off, so we took the kids to one of Ozzies ( well, actually both of their) favorite places on earth. The Pet Store. It has gotten so bad around here, that every time we get in the car he starts saying "Pet... Pet... Pet..." in hopes that he can subliminal message me into taking them there. it usually works.
He loves seeing all the pets, but i'm pretty sure the puppies and "nemo's" as he calls them are his favorite. then we went for family lunch at moxies, another of his favorites...ok, actually our favorites. but he doesn't care:) And then chilled the rest of the day, played with his super awesome car track and had pasta for dinner which he loves to say so clearly in 2 syllables, "PA, STA"

Frog book with daddy

pound-city

no birthday is complete without dancing in your birthday suit

The best and most awesome things about Ozzie at 2 are:

- his yammering. mostly in-coherent, but staggered with clear words throughout. he even tries some pretty cute sentences like, " mo milk peas mommy" Other favorite words, "Dido"- dinosaur, "Boo-doo"- bottle(which is actually a sippy cup), mommy daddy, ozzie but not greta even though he knows how to say it, ROAR, truck, "wack-you"- thank-you, Pet, Bye house, rock, asleep(followed by snoring sounds)

-his closed eyes cheese grin. love.

- he is so sweet, and gives hugs and kisses and bonks on command without hesitation

- he EATS!!!! i never have to worry about him, he loves almost everything. except rice, which makes dick really upset. but he feels better immediately when I say, Ozzie what do you want for lunch, and his response is "Soup". i swear the soup obsession is hereditary, no lie.

-he loves Greta and will copy basically anything she does, good or bad. they play pretty good together actually

-finally cause this is so long, He is SO sweet at night asking for a million primary songs by name, "rainbows" "try try try" " jesus said" "of God"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BUDDY, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

tidbits

2010-08-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

greta today during lunch while dick was putting up curtain rods:

" Daddy, you're the goodest at fixing things in the whole world...

and Mommy, you're the goodest at cleaning.

Ozzie, you're the goodest at sleeping...

and Greta...hmmm....you're the goodest at drinking. Good Job Everyone!"

Ha. love her.

am i really almost 30?

2010-08-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

just had my B-day this week. it sort of snuck up on me, like it usually does. but it was weird this year cause i honesly said and heard the words 29 and couldn't believe my ears. WHEN did that happen? like for real?
i remember specific birthdays throughout the years. turning 6 and going to Mcdonalds with my friends(come on, it was a big deal back then). turning 8 and getting baptized the same day as at least 6 other kids. turning 13 and my mom and dad taking me and my friends horseback riding in waterton, turning 20 and spending all day and night working a split shift at Joey Tomatoes. throwing my self a birthday party at 22 and renting an astro jump that all of my roomates slept in. turning 27 and being mass-o preg-o before ozzie was born. and here we are present day. 29.

this birthday was fabulous. it started with a day trip to Waterton with my family. the nice thing about being from a family with only 2 kids is that every time we get together it is a family reunion of sorts. the kids had so much fun just exploring and throwing rocks for hours, and we had an awarding winning picnic with my moms fried chicken and potato salad. seriously, even the deer were jealous.

then on my actual birthday we decided to head to Great Falls and shop and stay the night so we could bring more things back. really, a prefect Birthday for me:) target was heaven and dick took the kids mini golfing so we could get in some mall time and ROSS too. we slept over at the Hilton which was super nice, but we thought breakfast was free and it wasn't so next time, maybe we'll try somewhere else. the kids we super good, and swam and slept like logs. I on the other hand can NEVER sleep in a hotel. especially with my kids in a room with me. one little cough, wiggle, sleep talk, shuffle and i'm awake. i am the worst. next time, ear plugs.

sorry, these are a little blury, flash was off

is this smile getting old yet?

anyways, this year i must say how grateful i am for my life. my family, my faith, my blessings. so very grateful.

Next year, we're gonna PARTY!!!!!!

who knew?

2010-07-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

who knew it could be so awesome to live so close to family, and have family come visit at YOUR house for a change? not that i'm surprised i guess, but seriously since we've been in Lethbridge its been a non-stop visiting, playing, family extravaganza. It' is SO nice to have my mom and dad here. I rip over to their house with the kids whenever for a visit, or jump on the air bounce, lots of delish sunday dinners-a- la Jesse, and my mom calls on random nights and says, go out, i'll babysit! Such a Treat!

then we get to be a few blocks from my Brother and his family too! Greta and Ozzie are in cousin heaven, playing with them whenver they get a chance, going to movies, swim dates at dougs, and lots of dressing up in ballet clothes and dancing of course. Kaiya and Jager are so much fun for Greta to play with, and cooper and ozzie will be good friends in no time i'm sure.

ozzie spends most days in this 50 cent teeny, tiny, pool

the kids loved the double slip n'slide

Then, we got a last minute phone call from our Sister n'law Jessica saying that her and all the kids we're here for a family reunion in Cardston, and they wanted to come play and sleepover! So exciting! Too bad Len couldn't make it, but we had as much fun as we possibly could in less than 24 hours, staying up late watching movies and eating popcorn, playing in the fort, playing barbies and petshops and everything girl, while ozzie and Landon sent cars down the spiral ramp for hours on end. Then they were able to come to our ward, and even jump on the tramp for a bit. Cant wait till they can come and stay longer!

the kids (minus Ozzie who was napping)

Greta could not believe the "big girls" knew how to do a pyramid:)

the unison "jump"

Anyways, summer has been great so far, and we love living close to family and having visitors whenever, so come over!

hair cut

2010-06-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

finally broke down and took greta to the salon for a major chop last week. both of us were extremely sick of the stringy, tangly, mop she had grown. she was in big girl heaven, and sat as still as a statue, i couldn't believe it! except for when she saw all of her hair in a big pile on the floor, she started laughing hysterically. then Kristy asked if she wanted it curled and her eyes got so big and excited! it was such a fun little mommy daughter date, i cant seem to get enough of her these days!

during

AFTER

So cute, love this little muffin! oh and as a prize for sitting so still and good she got to pick out her own OPI nail polish. when i asked her what color she wanted she said, " Umm, pink sparkles of course."

PARTAY!!!

2010-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since i posted on here, and i really wanted to write about my little Greta turning 4 this past month. I remember when dick got into school thinking wow, Greta will be 4 when he is done, and so big and grown up. I CANT believe that day has already come and gone. Gretas B-day is May 12th, and since we were leaving to AZ on the 13th we had a few friends and family over for a little b-day celebration at the new pad. It was a little cold, but we were still able to hang out on out super fabulous new deck( one of my fave parts of the house)
Greta was excited all day, and since we were giving her(and oz technically) a trampoline for her b-day we had to keep the blinds shut all morning while dick slaved over putting together the new tramp. Just before everyone came over i said, " Greta do you want to open a birthday surprise?" of course she did, and i said, what do you think it is? she replied, "A Puppy? i really hope its a puppy." well....not quite but she was super excited none the less.

The killer part about the whole day, was Greta kept asking "when are my friends getting here?, Like Halle, Clara, Elias, Jost" ....it was a killer. Explaining our missing besties was super sad for me, especially over and over again. But she was so excited to finally get to have her cousins and Auntie and Uncle there for once, and some of her good friends too.

WE had yummy food, and a puppy cake and "pupcakes" as Greta calls them because since we moved Greta has been pretending to be a dog pretty much EVERY day. she only answers me in barks, and even though it gets super annoying, i thought it was an appropriate b-day theme.( i guess we should have got her a puppy, would have been perfect:)

Greta got 3 new barbies/doll that she LOVES, a new movie, and adorable jewlery chest, and a super fun Dr. Seuss game. Oh and also a tinkerbell lantern/ doll from G-ma and G-pa. She was in HEAVEN. I'm slowly letting her open presents to spread out the excitement over time, but i love hearing her play pretend with her barbies, prally the funniest thing ever.

she strategically held all the presents in front of her face

All in all it was a great day, and it was so nice to have a little normalcy around the house amidst all the travelling and moving etc.

Greta you are the best 4 year old in in the World! You constantly amaze me with your intelligence and sensitivity to the spirit and things that are meaningful. You can be a stinker too, you love to drag out bedtime as long as possible, and get pretty sensitive when boys start being rough around you, or teasing you. You've also recently started walking with a little hip action and posing with your hand on your hip which is pretty stinkin cute.
You have the best laugh ever, and i could listen to it all day. You love reading stories on the ipod with daddy, and you say the sweetest prayers, and you always bless everyone in our family to be "safe and fine and lovely."
You are a very good big sister, you generally share all the time with Ozzie and always try to make him laugh when he's sad, and it always works. You also always remember and remind me that everything we have and around us Heavenly father made, and you give the best morning, mid-day and bed time hugs! We Love you so much sweetie, Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Joy School

2010-05-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

What can I say about 3 year old Joy School? It. was. Fabulous. I knew at the beginning of the year i wanted Greta to be involved with something but not actual school because I didnt want her away from the house to much. the solution....Joy School. We had such a fun year, and the kids were all so good, and the moms even better, and Greta loved every second of it. Greta learned hw to zip her coat better than me, and write her name with a capitol E in the middle...(grrrrrr) she learned how to be so so silly, and how to make believe like a pro, how to give service to others and all in all be a wonderful 3 year old.

We had Joy School "grad" a little early because we had to leave saskie so soon and the kids each did a talent for the talent show, sang some joy school songs and looked darling in their grad caps! I wish i could transport all the moms and kids here to Lethbridge so we could do round 2!

After we were finished Greta kept saying to everyone, i passed all my classes at school, i'm a big girl like daddy! So cute. Thanks to eveyone for the great year, here's a few highlights!

Excuse my hideousness in this pic, but i love how ozzie had to be close by too.

Greta and Halle became really good friends this year, i`m tearing up just thinking about not seeing them together anymore

the grads

my sweet, proud, growing up little girl, love this pic so much

drama queen

2010-04-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just before bed tonite...

Me: "Greta, should we decorate some Easter eggs tomorrow and maybe go visit the Easter bunny at the mall?"

Greta: (With her eyes popping out of her head, thoughtfully gets down on one knee, grabs my hand with both of hers and says)
" Oh, Mommy, I thought you'd NEVER ask!"

Maybe you had to be there, but I just about died laughing.

1 year and 1 half

2010-03-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

i've been meaning to post this forever and haven't got around to it until today. my big big baby is 18 months old and turning into a big big boy. how is it possible that he could be 18 months old already? i mean seriously, it seems like 2 seconds ago he looked like this:

wow, so scary huge. a good reminder for me.

And then about 2 weeks after that he looked like this:
and then somewhere between that time and now i blinked and we have exhibit Oz)

Ozzie and his "buddy". A term greta actually came up with that has stuck around our house. Ozzie is the epitome of an 18 month boy. Hitting, throwing, playing with cars and above all BALLS!!! He is obsessed. All i hear all day is "Bah , Bahh? Bah." But apart from the usual, he is really anything but. This kid has a definite mind and personality all of his own.

-He WILL NOT eat anything anymore if i try and spoon feed it to him. He's actually really good at it doing it himself, Bowls of cereal, soup, pasta, applesauce. you name it.
- He loves to dance more than pretty much doing anything else. And when he does, he thinks it requires a tutu to be sucessful

- He loves to leave the house and go out. He'll bring me his coat and shoes the minute i say "go" and also loves to walk everywhere. If i try and carry him, he'll arch his back until he's won that game, simply because i cannot carry his squirmy body weight anymore
- His favorite foods right now are: mini cucumbers (all to himself of course), entire apples(skin on), grapes, juice boxes, and tomato oregano chicken on rice.
- I recently attempted taking his bottle away and it was a no go. he WILL NOT drink any milk unless its in his bottle. it doesnt matter how cute, or bottle-ish a sippy cup is, he wont touch it unless its in his "Ba"
- he loves to climb on everything, but it pretty cautious which is nice, so he'll go down backwards off of things instead of try going head first. Hes also been attempting to jump, which is hilarious, and playing tag with greta.

- He will mostly try to say anything i ask him to, but so far he can say: mama, dada, greta, ball, apple, water, buddy, birdie, moo, meow, grandma, no, and how could i forget "Yah" for yes. If i say ozzie do you want ______? and if he does he'll give a resounding "yah". so cute. he also signs a bit: the usuals are more, please, sorry, and milk
-He love to play hide and seek with me and greta, and he always hides behind the patio curtains. but he sits there and be's so quiet and cute. and when we find him he gets so excited and says, "BO" instead of boo. haha, i really need to get that on video.

Oz, you are the sweetest boy when you want to be. and the things i love about you most are your sweet hugs in the morning with pats on my back, your jiggly thighs and cheeks when you run down the hallway, your open mouth surprized face for anything exciting, and how you try to say "love you" at bed time to me. it melts my heart. oh and how could i ever forget your dance moves? love you bud.

(** i had more pics to post but they aren't working, so oh well)

distractions

2010-03-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, Oprah did a show on driving while cell phone talking/texting and its harmful effects. I don't like Op and usually and never watch her, but the re-run was on today, so i watched a bit to help aid in my packing procrastination. It was pretty brutal, showing numerous totally preventable deaths that occured from texting while behind the wheel. so sad.

Off topic...you know when you're pregnant(which i'm SOOOO not) and it seems like everywhere you go ALL you notice is pregnant women. It seems like they come out of nowhere and are EVERYWHERE you look? But really, its just you noticing them more because you're in the same boat.
anyways, thats me and vehicles right now. I've never been one to notice a sweet ride, or check out a make or model of a vehicle EVER in my life. But now that we're looking for one, i CANT stop. I'm constantly twisting my head around, looking over my shoulder, peeping tom into peoples vehicles to check out the interior and I can't help but notice the make , size, color, of every nice vehicle i see. I just cant help it.

So today, i'm driving Greta to ballet and i'm at a red light waiting to turn left. At the adjacent light is a super nice black, SUV-ish, toyota, something or other and i wanted to know what it was. My light turns green, i have a turning arrow, i proceed, crank my neck, and JUST about ram right into the stinking light post. seriously, i swerved hard, and missed it by an inch. what an idiot.

right after i thought to myself, good thing i wasn't on my phone at the same time. we would have been toast. we just need to hurry up and get a vehicle so i can be distracted by something else more safe.

and the worst of it is, I STILL don't know what that toyota was.

1 month and not counting.

2010-03-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

***Warning- Serious, story like, and very long post. tune out now if you're looking for entertainment.***

woah, its been way too long since i posted anything. mostly because this past month a and a half really has been a complete blur. okay, who am i kidding? this whole year. i remember going into this last year of school thinking, its going to be sweet, less stress, more time to chill, kids are getting more independent, time to make life plans, etc etc. Ummm....not so much. I feel like we've been on a slippery slope since september and can't level out and catch our breath. time is passing so quickly. with that said, it IS nice after all the turmoil to have things sort-of planned out and set in motion for the next phase of life. this is how it all went down...(i'm doing this more for the record than anything, so sorry if it's long)

plan a) Decide where we want to LIVE, and find a JOB

Simple enough right? look at the pros/cons of your top places and choose somewhere. easy peezy. well, lets just say that when i married dick i knew the "families from 2 different provinces" thing would be difficult. but as long as we were together it would be fine. and it has been, except we've spent almost EVERY holiday, weekend, vacation and dollar traveling many hours to visit family, and we wanted to change that. so after much discussion we thought okotoks would be a happy medium, close to my fam, close to the airport, close to shopping, close to church peeps. and so on.

then comes the finding a job part. who knew how lame that would be? not me. turns out, just because you're a dentist doesnt mean you have a foot in the door at any office of your choice. for one, they have to be looking for an associate, then they must offer some sort of almost full time schedule so you dont go broke. then the dentist has to be normal, not stinky, or pervert-y or bad dental-philosophy-y. oh, and also, if you know someone in the business, that helps...alot. too bad that ain't us. but we were able to meet with a great dentist and his wife in okotoks and felt pretty good about it. too good to be true?

so after waiting and waiting to hear from office manager after office manager, things in okotoks were taking a lot longer than we planned. and we didnt want to put all of our eggs in one baskie so we thought we better look around somemore. but the thoughts of calgary made us ill, and anywhere else in okotoks was a dead end. did i mention dick was still going to school full time during all of this? but we were still hopeful and prayerful that something would work out, and that the Lord would provide.
one morning, dick wakes up literally and says:

Him: "I think we should look in Lethbridge"
Me: "No"
Him: "Yes, i really do"
Me: " No seriously, NO!"

Usually in those type of situations, i get my way. Not that day, he kept bringing it up, asking me to call around etc. etc. So i thought i'd appease him, knowing the jobs there were pretty picked over from what we heard. Long story long, he had an interview that weekend. Before he met with the dentist, he called me and said, "Just so you know, I know i'm going to get the job and love it, and we're going to move to Lethbridge" I just laughed, cause he always says stuff like that just to annoy. 5 hours later. He calls back, "It went great, THAT is where I want to work, but I'll go wherever is best for all of us." I was seriously in shock. then tears. It was a good thing he wasnt home to see me, it was ugly. I dont know why, i just felt so sad. I think you have an idea in your mind of what your life will be like, and how it will play out, and mine never ever had Lethbridge written in the fine print.

When dick got home we talked some more, and i knew we needed to decide quickly because the same day dick found out he had the opportunity to work in Lethbridge, he also found out the same news from the Dentist in Okotoks.... crap. I wanted so bad just to say take the Okotoks job. But honestly, most of the reasons were pretty selfish. So i sucked it up, cleaned the slate and asked a higher source. It was just like when I was dating dick and he said he already felt a strong confimation about marrying me, and I was too scared to find out the answer on my end. You know how that story wound up:) Well, turns out, i did recieve an answer through the events that transpired over the next weeks.

plan b) SELL our house, BUY another one

We have had such amazing blessings in this department, mostly due to my mothers insight, but also because of timing. Timing is EVERYTHING. when to buy/sell is crucial, especially in our flip/flopping economic state. So, WAY earlier than planned, i felt strongly that we needed to list our house before we left for reading week. So I literally had a week to deep clean, pack some, organize, fix, and polish up our house for showings, all by myself. I do work best under pressure, but this was ridiculous. We strolled out of our Listed house on a Saturday, and planned to return in 2 weeks. I PLEADED with the Lord that if it was right, that miraculously our house would sell while we were gone.
Mean time, back at the ranch. (okay this is gonna be a novel) Dick was up north working, and without cell phone, internet, or basically any means of communication. BOO! Thank-goodness i had my family to help make some crucial decisions, and that they happen to be real-estate geniuses was nice too! After almost 2 weeks, and no legit offers on our house, I was packed and ready to leave back to saskatoon in the morning. I was sad, and depressed even thinking about being home alone with the kids, and showing our house a billion times blah blah blah. That night we got a call, and an offer, and sold our house. YEAH!!!! It was such a relief.

On the way home, sitting on the floor of a 7 person van, with 8 people in it. I thought about all the things that had transpired since dick said he felt strongly that we needed to look in Lethbridge. Finding a dentist that was looking for someone, getting along with him, getting the job, how i felt at the temple when i went, how i felt impressed to list our house quickly, and that it SOLD quickly. call it what you want, but it was all a miracle to me. I couldn't dent it.

This whole year we've been praying for the Lord to bless us to feel the spirit and be directed on the right path for our family. I can not deny that this has come to pass. And as much and Lethy drives me crazy, i know its where we're supposed to be, and so we'll make it work no matter what. I mean, i wasn't too thrilled about moving to saskatoon either, and look how well that turned out!

So now we're down to 1 month left in saskatoon, and i'm feeling sad, nostalgic, a little frantic, but excited.

I'm sad to leave this city, weird as it seems. I've really come to love this cold, bridge-y, spray park filled, circle driv'in place. and I can honesty say we've made so many wonderful lifelong friends, and really grown closer as a family, that I cant imagine what life would have been like these past few years anywhere else.

So, one month left and i'm NOT counting down. i'm just going to try and not stress(After the RS party of course) pack a little each day, enjoy this insanity of a beautiful spring we're having and spend time with friends and my little family!

oh, and i forgot to mention we bought a place last week. Havent seen it yet ( i know right?) but here's the outside, its going to be great!

before and after

2010-02-27T19:30:00.001-08:00

Seeing as we sold our house I figured its time to post some before and afters of our place.... sniff, sniff.

Front Entry

Living room

Dining Area

Kitchen 1

Kitchen2

Master

Kids rooms

we didn't do much to the suite in the basement. but we really put our blood, sweat, and tears into this house. I'm greatful it sold while we were gone so i didnt have to try and vacuum behind my children as they play.
oh and sorry i've been outta commision for awhile and not commenting or posting anything. this month has been a doozy. more to come.

i was thinking

2010-01-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

i think its natural to compare your children. their personalities, physical features, bad habits etc. and in doing so today i thought to myself. 'man, ozzie has some meaty thighs, i just wanna bite em'...i wonder if they are chunkier than gretas at that age?' so i inquired further...

i cant decide?

greta at 16mnths( ha ha, this pic kills me)

Ozzie at 16 mnths (he is mid stride)

i also think its funny that kids love being in "downward dog" all day long at this same age

G-ride

O-dizzle

one more for the road...whats up with the constant obsession with shoes?

greta has always had good taste in stilettos

these are gretas snowman slippers that ozzie brings to be every 20 min. or so until i put them on, and then screams if i try to take them off.

too funny. i love this age so much. if only i could get an translator for all of ozzie's yammering and screaming for things that i have no clue what he's talking about, then we'd be set:)

oh and p.s. to you photographers out there...why am i getting so much back shadow in my pics? help?

snowman?

2010-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

it has been ridonkulously warm here this January, and all i have to say is HALLELUIA! I can count on one hand the times we've been able to play out in the snow here since we moved here 6 years ago, so needless to say we've been trying to take advantage of the global warming:) I was sick with some weird crazy virus this week, but we did venture out in the yard a couple times.

Ozzie wasn't overly thrilled about the snow blocking his path to the slide, but he enjoyed being outside none the less.

Greta was lovin it, going down the slide a billion times and making a stick garden with all of the twigs that fell off the neighbors tree.

and of course they both enjoyed a ride in the car! ( best outdoor toy ever)

Dick went out with greta on friday and began our first snowman ever. we learned from the death of the Cahoon snowman (RIP), and decided to make ours in the back yard instead. It was a bit of a process, and then we had to go somewhere, so we left him without a head. when we came outside on saturday to finish making frosty it was too cold to make snowman heads so this is what we ended up with...

nacho libre-man? i dunno, but it was all we had.

i like this pic

not sure why ozzie has 2 touques on and looks very cone head-ish

little miss greta looking disheveled and cute as per usual:)

all in all it was good times, except for an ozzie face plant in the icy hard snow bank, but i sure hope this weather continues, maybe we'll get to use our toboggans yet!

slow and steady

2010-01-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

I dont know about everyone else, but I have a difficult time getting back into the swing of things after Christmas. I think something about the turkey, and treats, and veg-ing, and movie watching, and shopping etc. etc. physiologically makes me move slower, be motivated less, and actually feel like time is standing still in January. I'm not big on New years resolutions either(obviously), but that's for another post completely.

In light of this, I will be blogging Christmas in sessions, collage style. not the most attractive form of picture posting, but who am I kidding, posting pics on blogger sucks anyways, so this is best for now.

We did have a FABULOUS Christmas at my Mom and Dada house in Lethbridge. Me and the kids went a week early so Dick could finish exams, and then he joined up with us on our Anniversary, which was a pleasant surprise!

One of the great things about only having to do one side of the Family at Christmas is that its pretty low key, and you actually get to relax a bit. The perks of a small family I guess:) Speaking of perks, lets talk about a few this year... non-stop delicious food, the best Turkey dinner of my life(for real), babysitting at the drop of a hat, cousins to entertain the kids, trips to Great Falls for the BEST shopping, parties with good friends, generosity above and beyond anything I would ever expect, and of course lots of time to enjoy Family! Thanks Mom and Dad SO much!!!

Greta and Ozzie were both thrilled to play with their cousins, even though Ozzie swiped a few of them at times! It was cousin HEAVEN for Greta, she would have eat , slept, breathed, Kaiya and Jag every day if she could!
Here's a few pics of the kids playing, eating icecream, opening presents, dressing like ballerinas, being ninjas, and wearing cute Jammies from Grandma and Grandpa!

It was also the first time the kids have really been able to play in the snow this year because A) we had barely any snow in Saskie when we left, and b) it was too stinkin COLD to go outside! So Greta was so excited to make snowballs, and angels, and forts, and Ozzie beyond loved us draggin him around on the sled.

We also adopted a Jahn family tradition of eating the most delicious waffles of all time on Christmas morning, I haven't seen my Dad eat that much in years! Both Greta and Ozzie loved being with their Gandparents, even if it took Ozzie 2 weeks to warm up to dad:) Greta used her powers of persuasion to get everything she wanted or thought she needed from Grandma...especially Grandma hugs, and she loved learning to sing "On top of Old Smokey" with Grandpa! I'm so grateful our kids have such amazing Grandparents (on both sides) to learn from and make memories with!

okay, i'm spent.

to become like a little child

2010-01-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

...only little children have the imagination to come up with brilliant names for their littlest Pet Shop pets such as these.

the puppy- Ulla
the iguana- Proneza
the canary- Rezella
the kitten- Rodessera (she is the cousin to Gretas My little Pony named Rodessero)
the turtle- Marsipelli

the list goes on...those are the only ones i wrote down. and its not like she just makes them up and forgets them 30 seconds later. she has it down to a science and really puts some thought into her naming system.

2009-12-06T16:23:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

dancing, walking, and grosstaches

2009-11-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

finally downloaded some video off our camera tonite. its been awhile, and my kids LOVE watching "home movies" so thats how we spent our sunday night.
Greta has been going to a ballet class since September. Ironically enough its called "Studio One" and so far she seems to really like it. It is a bit secretive though, i dont really know what goes on in there most of the time, and they had parent observation night but Greta was sick, and she really wanted me to come watch. So i asked Miss shauna if i could sit in the class and watch for a few minutes last week, this is what i saw...

This week has also been a busy one for Ozzie. he's gone from scaling walls, furniture etc. at lightning speed, to crossing the hallway on his own, to crossing the kitchen, going down the whole hallway, and now he's a full out walking maniac. His first real venture away from the walls started on Tues. Nov. 24th, and now he doesn't even think twice about it, he barely falls, and is a pretty, stinkin, happy boy! Its like he totally just decided that he was gonna walk, and did it. He could have done it earlier, but he wanted to make sure he was good at it first(daddy trait).
This video is from his first day or real walking on Tues., the second video is from Last night. crazy what a difference a week can make:)

In other news, thankfully "Movember" is pretty much over. Dick and a bunch of his man-friends helped raise money for Prostate Cancer by growing some nasty "mo's." The Neilsons had a sweet party to commemorate the month long event; food was ate, awards were given, just for men was used, and all in all it was a great time! dick is already planning his stash for next year...oh and he won the "try the hardest award" or something like that. due to his ridiculous plucking of the top mustache hairs to make it look more 'greasy mexican' than ever.(no offense)

mid month stashe

yes those are all real. sorry about the bad quality

end of the month stashe...its pointy, sick.

you can lead a horse to water...

2009-11-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

but you cant make him walk. Ozzie turned 14 months last week and he has definitely been busy this past month, FINALLY learning to crawl (sort of, actually he scoots and 1 knees it but whatever, he's mobile) taking his first REAL first steps. I say real because he's been scaling the furniture and walls and everything for quite a while now, but he is pretty wussy venturing out on his own. if i'm walking with him, as SOON as i think about letting go he sits down. what a stinker.

we lowered his crib this week, which makes me laugh actually that it was up high for so long, we lowered Gretas at 7 months. other than that he is still such a funny little guy, and so boyish. hitting everything with a hammer as hard as he can, chucking balls at my head, teasing his sister cause he knows she'll get upset(seriously, he does) and dancing lots, but only to music that has a good beat. If i put on kid stuff he screams. which leads me to my next point. SCREAMING!!! ozzie has quite the temper. he can light up about nothing and go into a crazy screaming outrage in t-minus last year. also, he picked up a brilliant trait from mommy called holding his breath when hes mad. now i know almost all kids do this to an extent,but Ozzie holds his for so long, until the point where you think you should start shaking him so he'll take in some oxygen so he wont have brain damage long. its scary. and yet, funny.

this month also brought on our dreaded trip to the allergist. we figured Ozzie was definatley sensitive to a few things so we had our doctor refer us....4 months later we had our appointment. Ozzie was already super tired when we got there cause it was right during his morning nap, then he had a weird new doctor trying to be his friend, and giving him a scratch test. so all in all he wasnt happy. neither was I. So far(cause thats all they tested for) hes allergic to egg whites, egg yolks, milk and peanuts. BOO! times a million. I know lots of kids are allergic to things these days, and yes, theres a good chance he'll grow out of some of it...But heres why i'm annoyed.
a) I LIVE for all things dairy..milk cheese yogurt icecream...did i mention cheese? and it bothers me not to share these delicious gems with my little boy
3) So much for nursing him until he was pracitaclly saying "mommy milk please" okay, just kidding. but he was a year old and that is good in my books, and isnt that supposed to help with allergies?
q) and last but not least..WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE FOR DINNER??? for real. just about everything we eat on a regular basis is riddled with milk or eggs, and i'm sorry but SOY milk is barf in my mouth. i consider myself a pretty tollerant person when it comes to food tastes, but i cant do it. in baking, fine. but in cooking..gag.

Anyways, its worse for me than ozzie, and i'm totally ranting here, but obviously hes doing fine and is growing and eating like a maniac, so life goes on.

speaking of, today was the first time i've attended Relief Society in approx. 5 years. no offense, but it was brutal. Not RS itself. everything was great, the music, lesson, talking with adults for a change, the old ladies vibrato etc. i love all of that. but I was DYING in the back feeling like i needed to be somewhere doing or teaching something. its gonna take awhile to adjust i think. It didnt help that i had so many Primary kids come up to me today and give me hugs and say we miss you Sister Jahn, and make me pictures in sacrament meeting. It was so cute. I am enjoying my new calling though, its just so different being behind the scenes, planning, meetings and such. i'm sure there's lots i need to learn.

okay, that's enough.

october

2009-11-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

phew...what a MONTH!!! i thought september was nuts until october came around. Between Joy school at our house, Ballet, Halloween, halloween parties, Primary presentation regular life, i felt like i was running a marathon.... and then poof! look! its already November and I busted out a Christmas CD today!

I had my turn teaching Joy School this past month and let me say..it was so FUN! Crazy at times, but fun. Our unit was all about the body and we played lots of games, talked about bones, used our senses and ate healthy food and exercised. The kids were great, and they all really do play well together which helps. Greta is constantly saying " look mommy i'm using my sense of tongue" (taste)when she eats food. Still working on that one, but at least i know a few things sunk in.

After all was said and done it made me very grateful to be home with my kids. I LOVE teaching, i love kids, i loved being a full time teacher, but it is SO much work and prep. and constant bombardment of the brain. I know i could not be both a mom and a teacher at the same time successfully. so i'm truly grateful to be at home, even if i feel like pulling my hair out some days:)and sorry, i have no joy school pictures, my camera was lost for awhile and then it seemed like i never had a spare second with all the kids here to snap a pic.

Halloween week was as crazy and fun as the rest of the month. Greta wanted to be a Bee this year? dont know why? she also wanted to be a lemon, couch, and a diaper...so BEE was clearly the only option. I had some leftover tulle from various Tu Tu's i've made and so i decided to make one for Greta and throw some sequins on a body suit and call it a costume. Turned out pretty cute!

We also had a party at the church and a joyschool party with other friends too this week that turned out great! the kids got to wear their costumes lots and had tons of fun and so by my books that makes it all worthwhile. I love any excuse for a party, i just wish my place was bigger so thanks Laura for the Hospitality:)

Halloween day finally came and we spent most of it chillin cause the kids were sort of getting little coughs and sniffles. Greta went trick-or treating with Elias for a bit and it was perfect, we cleaned out the whole block in like 20 min. Nobody was out, it was weird. kind of creppy...very halloweeny.

Primary Pesentation coming up this week, should be a gooder. I cant believe how big our primary has become! there were like 5 kids in primary when we moved here. now there are close to 50!!! Crazy town. And then moving on to other things like deep cleaning my house, rotating toys, trying NOT to Christmas shop, and figuring out what i'm supposed to do in my new calling?

sorry this post is very journally, and i cant cut and paste the pics, so they're all at the top. annoying! good nite.

my worst nightmare

2009-10-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

picture this sweet face:

tumbling all
the
way
down
these:

I thought i was gonna lose it. seriously. and seeing as Ozzie cant crawl OR walk you'd think i'd be safe from this kind of accident? nope. he scaled the furniture in 2 seconds flat to come find me i guess getting the laundry and all i heard was THUD, THUD, SCREAM!!!!

I was beside myself, he was SO sad and confused. miraculously he only had 2 big bumps on his XXL head. I thought for sure he'd have broken bones, ribs, brain damage, become paralyzed, blind...you know how you start to get carried away? but sure enough, all in all he seems fine. I know he's not the first or last kid to fall down some stairs, but when it happens to you, under your watch, you feel like SUCH a tool. i felt sick to my stomache all day yesterday.

anyways, truly, truly blessed.

On a happier note... the stairs used to stink and look like this:

so i guess i shouldn't complain.

credit

2009-10-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

So we took away Ozzies soother on Friday night last week. I thought it was gonna be a NIGHTMARE! Greta would not take a soother as a baby so i swore when another child came around that i'd make it happen, and Ozzie loved his soother from Day1. I only gave it to him at bedtime, naps and in the car occasionally. But none the less he was hooked, and if it was anywhere in sight he would whine and whine until he found a way to get it in his mouth.

The reason i decided to get rid of it now was because he would wake up 2 or 3 times a night just for me to find his soother and he could go back to sleep. SO ANNOYING! i couldnt take it. So on friday night, the soothie had left the building. He Cried and cried and cried for like 35 min. it was heart wrenching. his cry was saying..."what the heck? where is my soother? why wont you give it to me? i'm tired! hurry up, this is getting old! mom are you crazy? how do you expect me to sleep?" and various other sad inflections. i almost caved like 3 times..but held out thinking if i could just get him to fall asleep without it we'll be okay. So I waited, he fell asleep, and didnt wake up until morning. Fluke right? thats what i thought. the next day, layed him down for naps, he cried for maybe 20 sec. each time and then right to sleep. must be good luck. that night, not a peep, next day same thing. He TOTALLY forgot about it.

So now he sleeps amazing, i dont even hear him at all in the night and we made it past this hurdle in under 24 hours. what a blessing. I should have given him more credit. i should have learned from Greta. I NEVER thought she'd fall asleep without being rocked, she did. I NEVER thought she'd drink milk without her bottle, she did. I NEVER thought she'd be happy sleeping anywhere but her crib, she did. i need to have a little more faith i guess, and not underestimate their ability to adapt so well.

In other news, Greta pee'd on the bathroom floor. A lake. the most pee i've ever seen. We were playing doctor with her carebears in her room,
Greta: "Oh... mommy...quick Cheer bear needs to go pee"
Me: does that mean you need to go?
Greta: "Yep"
Me: okay hurry, run, quick quick quick

30 sec. later....

Greta: OH NO!!!! MOMMY!!!
Me: (noticing the lake of pee on the floor) What the heck? what happend? why did you pee on the floor?
Greta: Well, carebear had to go first, and I had to wait my turn.

seriously. kids.

Singing

2009-10-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

Greta likes to sing and has a lot of songs in her repertoire already. It amazes me how fast kids pick things up. this is a video i forgot about from early spring, and even though her pitch is much better than this now, it is still one of my favorites of her ever. so sweet. so greta.

oh ya.....turn up your volume a bit its sort of quiet.

i couldnt resist

2009-09-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

i started browsing through old pics trying to free up some space on my computer and i stumbled upon a few rare gems. I thought i'd dedicate this post to Greta and Elias...the best of friends....MOST of the time!

Happy Birthday lil' Ozzie!

2009-09-10T20:25:00.001-07:00

It is surreal to me that a year has gone by so fast! My not so little baby boy is now a big 1 year old and changing by the second it seems! I think Greta seemed so much older to me at one cause she was running already, but Ozzie just seems like a little guy still.
I'll admit, I'm not much of a fan of the little baby phase. dont get me wrong, they are precious and perfect, and generally do sleep alot. but i'm actually kind of excited for Ozzie to be getting into the toddler world, even though he's already getting into more things than i thought possible for someone who isnt even walking OR crawling. But he's inventive thats for sure, and if he wants something bad enough he'll find a way to get it!
Ozzies favorite things right now are, Balls... 100%! he cant get enough. He actually says "Bah" when he's after one. He also loves making as much noise as possible by banging anything against anything else as hard as he can. (i'm assuming this is a boy thing) He loves his soy milk and flaps and bounces for joy when i give him some, and he can pound grapes like nothing else...his favortie food right now for sure! He just started this week trying to feed me things too, so cute. He holds out whatever it is to put in my mouth and then eats it himself. what a stinker.
Hmmm.. what else? Ozzie is still very sensitive and sweet. but he also has a temper like nothing else, and is Mr. Grump fest in the morning for at least a half hour. He LOVEs to be outside, and will scream and lunge out of my arms if i'm anywhere near thte patio door or front door. And he loses his mind if I go past the bathroom with him when Greta is having a bath and dont let him in there, seriously, like a nervous breakdown everytime.

Lately he is yammering so much more, and even though i dont Think hes really said him first "word" yet, he does say Ma ma ma ma when i'm around, and Bah" for ball and dadadada. But its no secret that he loves Greta the most of us all. He lights up when shes around, and Greta is a really good sister, so i dont blame him.

We had a fun day today, playing with new toys, time at the zoo, and dessert of course! I think Ozzie sort of figured something cool was happening for him when we turned out the lights to sing happy birthday and there was FIRE in front of his face. he smiled.

Here's some highlights

Checking out his new Hammering Toy

At the Zoo

All dressed and excited for his Party!

Going for a stroll

I made these Burger cupcakes and Fry cookies because Ozzie LOVES fries, and will scream for one until he gets it every time. thanks for the idea Bakerella! they were sort of annoying to make, but turned out super cute in the little boxes, Love!

He loved his cupcake and that i let him have at er' the whole time!
Post Birthday wind down!

love you Ozzie! Happy First Birthday!

best of friends

2009-08-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

i'm sure it may change over time, but these 2 can NOT get enough of each other these days! i'm constantly finding them playing together, laughing, hiding under blankets, making the same strange faces at me, and i'm loving every minute of it! Greta said, Mommy, i love you and Daddy so much, but Ozzie is my brother and I love him more, like Toopy and binoo. ( her favorite show)

look at those goofy smiles! i just want to bite their cheeks of and eat them! love you!

peep show

2009-08-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

We stumbled upon the original Care Bears full length movie the other day for $6.99...needless to say it was a must have purchase. So when we got home, Greta wanted to watch it, and she loved every second of it just as much as I did as a child :) Anyways, afterward she was running around the house yelling "Care Bear...... STARE!!!!" and lifting her shirt up to expose her tummy like the care bears do. I thought she was being funny and cute and she continued this for quite a while. Later, we asked her to go potty and get ready for her bath, then a few min passed by and she came out with (little did we know) ONLY her shirt on stretched down to about her knees...then we heard....
Care Bear......... STARE!!!!!!! and as she did so she strategically lifted her shirt up JUST enough to expose her lady bits.
She was laughing hysterically...and so were we!

should I be worried?

30 pics

2009-08-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

So i loved looking at this on Noelle Bakers blog and thought it would be fun to picture hunt, plus my house is clean and i cant nap with the kids cause the neighbor is using his scroll saw right outside my window. boo. so here we go.

A pic of you in your room:

hallway beside my room? close enough. halloween 07.

A pic of you with someone you don't like:

okay, the hot chic in the middle, i wish that was me, and the greasy, back up dancer gave me the heeb jeebs.

A pic of you in the daylight:
A pic of you on your birthday or a Holiday:

Hawaii 08 the best Holiday ever!

seeing as it just past...Happy 28th!

The youngest pic of you in digital form:

i'm pretty sure i was packing my things to run away in this pic, and someone foiled my plan

A pic of you with a new Hair cut/color:

A pic of you in a time of your life that you wish wasn't over:

dancing every day...pure bliss

A pic of you in a time of your life that you're thankful is over:

not that it wasn't fun being single and living with 90 roomates...so fun, but i'm glad to be married!

A pic of you with someone you love:

A Pic of how you'd like to be seen spending every day:

just chillin with these guys

A pic of you when everything changed:

First baby...turns your world upside down

A pic of you that makes your heart hurt:

grade 7 perm...enough said.

A pic of you that makes your heart smile:

one of our engagement pics...love it

A pic of you on the best day of your life:

Dec 19/03... no contest.

A pic of you in formal attire:

Dental banquet /06

A pic you couldn't leave out:

i couldn't leave out these two little monkeys :)

so i didn't make it quite to 30 pics...too long..aww well enjoy!

Water!!

2009-07-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

After all the crappy weather we've been having, we finally had some nice days and have been busy spending time out of our sauna of a house and in the WATER...all varieties!

I really love Saskatoon in the summer, there's a lot of fun things for kids to do, and beautiful places to walk and go that are really close to home. If it was only more than 2 months long, and winter wasn't the death of life you might convince me to stay here:) Anyways, when we lived downtown we frequented Kinsmen park with Greta all the time, and she loves to go down there and play in the pool and go on the rides. Even though we live further from it now, we still make our way there whenever we get the chance!

It was a little bit cold at 11 am!

Greta and her "boys" Elias and Jost running to the deep end

Laura and Owen getting in on the action

Maybe Jost is peeing here? i'm not sure. But i like this pic.

We chilled in the backyard swimming pool set up thanks to Dick. Greta went down her own personal "waterslide" a million times and Ozzie loved being in his own little pool and splashing and dunking his fingers in the water and sucking them!

We filled up some water balloons and Greta called them her baby whoopies and would pretend to cry whenever one broke. She even wrapped them in a towel and put them to sleep.

Another thing I LOVE is living so close to a million spray parks, Greta has her pick of which one she likes the best and she even has started making some little new friends there! I overheard her conversation with this little girl....
Greta: Hi, I'm Greta
Girl: Hi (no introduction)
Greta: I'm a big girl and you're a big girl do you want to play?
Girl: (No comment but starts running and greta starts chasing her)
Girl: This is my sister(pointing to her sister... still no name)
Greta: I have a brother and his name is Ozzie and he's so fast and we play around all the time

Last, we spent saturday out at Pike Lake, only a quick 30 min drive and they have a beach but we opted for the cleaner, outdoor pool and waterslide and had a great time with the Coopers and Bakers! There are way too many pics to post, but I'll put the rest on facebook! Greta tried out her flippers and did pretty good actually, and Ozzie was lovin life in the baby floating device! Heaven

Elias in his snorkle gear...probably the funniest hing i've ever seen!

A rare shot of mommy

Good times...it seems like summer is going by WAY too fast though! I love having Dick at home, school is way overrated:) Better live it up while we have the chance!

S-P-E-L-L it out

2009-07-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so i dont know about other parents, but it seems we are constantly spelling words out in front of Greta to keep her in the dark about certain things at certain times. Like P-A-R-K, or T-R-E-A-T, or M-O-V-I-E etc. Not that we dont want her to enjoy these things with us, but once you say the word out loud in a discussion she'll never stop asking about it.

So we got back from Vancouver last week(post to come) and all of us were sick, then I had a blocked milk duct and the beginnings of Mastitis the same week (Joy!) Needless to say there were numerous conversations about my 'chest issues' between Richard and I throughout the week. And I thought Greta was oblivious to what was going on, thanks to our super high tech spelling tactics.

then yesterday i'm feeding Ozzie and she asks, "Mommy, is Ozzie gonna have some milk from your B-O-O-B's?" in a casual tone.

what a stinker. we can't get anything by her:)

when mommy is gone...

2009-07-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

numerous things occur when I leave Dick in charge of the kids at home, i'm sure. But the one thing i'm certain of is that Greta has a TON of fun playing with her dad...interactive and unplugged.

example:

this makes me laugh till i cry every time.

Daddy

2009-06-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Okay Dad, get out your glasses, turn off the Hockey game, and if you can figure out how to find this post on your Lap Top I'll give you a million bucks! HA! just kidding, but seriously, if you're reading this I am very proud of you! Actually, I'll make it in larger font for you... maybe not so large. Okay okay, enough making fun of your oldness...

I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!! Happy Father's Day!!! I wish we could be home for Father's day, but I thought that this was better than a card, and I could be as long winded as I like.

I want you to know I think of you everyday and pray for you everyday! And when I do it is usually because something reminds me of you like watching curious George with Greta and thinking of Skeezicks that weird monkey we used to have and love so much. Or when I see a puppy like Chinook walking on the street I think of how much she loved you, and how you'd say "Hav Sum" nookie "Hav sum." I often think of you when Greta reminds me that we are gonna be "late" for church and she gets all concerned, and how many times you drove me to dance 40 years early because of my paranoia of being late, and how annoying I must have been....i could go on.

I also think of you when i'm reading my scriptures and I read stories of the prophets who endured so much, and went through so many numerous hardships to become the great leaders that they were. And that is what you are to me Daddy. The Great Leader of our Family! I know lately mom takes that role on many levels due to circumstances, but her strength and courage to take care of you and our family is in large part due to your Faith and prayers on her behalf.
I know that you must have many days that you feel frustrated with your physical limitations and inability to do the things you'd like to do. But I want you to know always, that you are a pillar of strength to me, and We love and appreciate you so much! Greta loves to sit with grandpa and watch shows and eat nibs and Ozzie loves listening to you pop your mouth and say "ohhh Ozzie."
Dick and I love the blessings you give us, they have a lasting impact on us and we talk about it often. And I always know you're there to listen when I need it... even if you have to turn the phone up to SUPER SONIC MODE!!
Anyways Dad, sorry this is a bit dis-jointed but I hope you have a Great Day and we love and miss you lots and lots! Mmuwah!

Love you, Krys

Oz-bozzle

2009-06-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

9 months... long enough to complete 1 full year of Dental school, to survive the entire length of the brutal saskatoon winter, to conceive and have another whole baby( ...shudder)and long enough to have this little man change our lives forever!

Ozzie spent his 9 month birthday getting up at 4:30am teething, whining, screaming for food, falling on his extra large forehead when he reaches for things, saying lalalala, and mamamama, and puking on mommy 3 times! He loves to play "shy" when someone smiles at him, he smiles back and ducks his head to the side, and he looks pretty halarious when he smiles due to his strange teeth growing pattern! Ozzie figured out how to drink water from a sippy cup this week, but he still wont take any sort of formula, which is driving me crazy!! he also has decided that no matter what time he goes to bed, that between 4- and 5 am is a great time to get up... he's killin me.

I cant beleive how big he is, and how much we all love him. Greta says, "Mommy, I want to tell you something, do you know what? Ozzie is my baby brother and I love him so much." Melt my heart!

A Trip home

2009-06-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

As soon as Dick finished exams we thought it was time for a little visit home to Lethbridge. Everytime we go home, we're spoiled non-stop. Accommodations in my parents spacious air-conditioned basement suite, are even nicer than home. My mom cooks delicous food, entertains, babysits, and still works and takes care of Dad on top of it all. Thanks mom!!

Ozzie was beyond excited to sit in the drivers seat!

We all had a great time! Greta and Ozzie got to spend time with her cousins Kaiya, Jager and Cooper and Uncle Geoff and Auntie Nicki who they love very much, and they even threw another Birthday party for Greta! (Thanks Guys!!) there was yummy food, and cupcakes and and presents and Helium baloons (that Greta is still mourning the loss of) it was so nice to be together for a celebration for once, it seems like we always miss everyones birthdays and long weekends etc.

its not a party until everyone's wearing a party hat!

Even Cooper and Ozzie got in on the action

**Side note...will SOMEONE please tell me how to do multiple pictures on this thing?...i'm totally annoyed with uploading one at a time***

And Nicki made delicious rainbow bit cupcakes(greta's fave) that we all devoured!

The weather was insanely gorgeous for June in Lethbridge...and NO WIND! it was heaven. so we spent most of the days outside chillin in my Bro's super nice backyard...Greta kept asking "Mommy are we having summer?" cause she didn't know what was up the whole swimsuit/lemonade/water balloons in the backyard action. good times..i loved it!

Ozzie loved it too...he even ate his first fistfull of grass.

The kids loved throwing balloons at "Uncle Dick" even Greta was calling him that. Jager was there too...he must have been busy digging in the mud with a sword at the time:)

We took a few pics after church with grandma..I put this one up cause My Mom looks great as always...but also cause the kids faces were too funny...like get this over with. Greta looks weird.

Anyways, it was a great trip! Dick got to relax and get killed by Geoff in golf, and the kids got to play and we even got to go on a date! Greta snuggled with Grandpa on his bed and watched shows just about everyday while he sneakily gave her nibs the whole time. She could not have been happier. Actually, she cried on 3 separate occasions on the eay home because she missed Grandma and Grandpa so much! awwww.
I love summer, and cant wait to visit again in July! but seriously i'm tired of this long way to post pics.. HELP!

3

2009-05-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

here's what i remember about being 3...um....nothing. so as my little Greta bo sweta turned 3 this week i thought she'd like to remember what we did on her third birthday, and why she is so special to us.
Her actual birthday was on tuesday during finals still, so we spent the day together opening a few presents and playing at the park. Greta kept asking all day, " are we going to have my birthday today?" in which i told her that she'd have a little party on saturday...which means nothing to kids, so i said.." in a few days okay?" "okay mommy." Greta has been asking for a bike since her last Birthday, so we finally gave in and she really seems to love it and be quite good already.

we also got her a Unicorn to ride on because she'd been pulling hangers out of my closet to ride around on for months and i got a little tired of finding hangers everywhere. she named her "Uni" and likes to put her to sleep under her buddies and pat her head while she falls asleep.
later this week i made cupcakes for greta, and decided on a rainbow theme because she's been really into rainbows and unicorns as of late. i found the perfect recipe on some lady's blog, seemed pretty straightforward so i went to work...3 hours later...for real..they were done. it was definatley a labor of love. but look at those colors! rad.
everyyear for gretas birthday i always plan something outside, and we've been rained out every year. it looked like it was going to happen again, and then after a week of snow and cold, it was beautiful all of the sudden just in time for a party! Greta had some of her friends over and we rented an AStro jump (thanks laura) that the kids loved!

then we had cupcakes and more jumping and sliding,Greta was so happy to have her girl friends come play, even though we were missing some of her favorite boy friends (ie. Elias, Jost, Carson, Briggs etc.)

All in all it was a great week and a perfect party for our little girl! We love you so much Greta, and are so proud of the sweet, smart, independent, joyful little girl you are growing up to be!

the boy I love

2009-05-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

busy few weeks...finals, more finals, mother's day, greta's Birthday (pictures to come mom :) more finals..will they ever END?!! anyways, amidst it all i must pay tribute to Ozzie and his 8 months of life!
Ozzie is changing...FAST! reaching for everything, hating his swing all of the sudden, not liking baby food but wanting everything we eat exactly as we eat it...not mushed, teething like a banchee, whining when i go out of sight, loving the sound of his own screaming voice, still hating formula...all varieties, busting out of his jammies on every level... i could go on

but apart from all the sort of typical 8 month physical baby stuff, a few things remain the same.

he is SO sensitive. if Greta cries, he cries. if i raise my voice to loud he lip quivers...very in-tune.

he is SO SOLID! i can not hold him on my hip for longer than 10 min. before my arm is shaking.

he can go from A- Happy, smiling, laughing, playing baby to Z- screaming, un-consolable, grouch pants in literally 2 seconds flat...I'm told that's a "Me" trait, but i wont take the blame.

i can say he's definatly the boy i love so much...without any reservation... because Dick at somepoint in the past 6 years since we met has finally got his Man on . love you both.

this pic captures Ozzie perfectly. Happy, drooly, scratches, tongue up and curled.

questions, questions, questions?

2009-05-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

I think maybe i've taken for granted how 'well spoken' Greta is. She has always been a very good communicator and she has made it quite easy for us to understand what she needs or wants which is always a struggle for parents to figure out. Anyways, the past few months she has become more inquisitive than ever. Asking 5 bazillion questions about everything and anything. Mommy, whats that funny smell? what are you eating? why does Ozzie bite everything? whats in your mouth? why does Helen like bacon so much? where are we going today? what time is it? 2 oclock? is there still a baby in your tummy? (gggrrrr) why do you have owies on your face?(ggrrrrrr) etc. etc. etc... it sounds all cute and innocent, but can become annoying at times, especially when you dont feel like answering every little thing. Just when I thought I'd had enough questions for one day, i was on the phone with someone and I said my "husband" at somepoint in the conversation. when I got off the phone it went like this:

Greta: Mommy whats a husband?
Me: Well, Daddy is my Husband, and I'm his Wife because we are Married.
Greta: I want to be a wife
Me: One day when you grow up and meet a nice young man, you can get married in the Temple and you will be a wife too.
...
...
...( After a very thoughtful, contemplative pause, and that questionable look on her face)

Greta: Can I take my buddy (blankie) with me?

i love the questions. keep them coming.

haiku

2009-04-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

instead of trying to play catch up with a ridiculously long post, here's a Haiku about April in the Jahn household...

Easter at Grandmas
Dick turned twenty eight, that's Great!
Ozzies boogers... gross.

Sasha Fierce

2009-04-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is for you Jen, Amy, Heath and anyone else who wants to see how close we were to Beyonce....the sound quality is brutal because of the LOUD bass but you get the idea. there's more videos but the files were too big. good times.

Gymnastersize

2009-03-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

I enrolled Greta in a "Tumbleweeds" gymnastics class this term( thanks Erin) to help beat the Winter blues and give her some one on one time with mommy. She LOVED it! and so did I watching her run around and climb on everything and make a few new little friends! It was a great class where they basically got to do whatever they wanted with adult supervision, and Greta loved her teacher a lot! It's over now, but here's a few pics from her last class!

Hiding under the "Rainbow" waiting for class to start!

She was a champ on the rings, and she loves to hang on everything and lift her legs as high as possible( seen here)
She also loved the trampoline mostly due to lots of practice on our bed

She got quite brave by the end of the term and even did the small balance beam all by herself

Just running away from me as usual

showing her "special paper" of achievement

She looks a bit Bi-polar in these last pics!

snow white

2009-03-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

I eavesdropped on Greta flipping through her Snow White book today and "reading " her version of the story... here's how it went.

"Once upon a time there was a girl with black hair and even though she was a princess her stepmother treated her like a pervert."

The book says "servant."

too funny. it would be quite a different story if it started out like that.

take my breath away....

2009-03-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

okay, I was cleaning up some computer files today and deleting some old pics etc. and I stumbled upon an un-labled file from last year so i clicked on it and immediately gasped outloud... here's why...

***warning the following images are disturbing and contain nudity...viewer discresion is advised...to see better click on the photo***

Greta had a few weird looking red marks on her leg one night...innocent enough..

by the morning she had began to swell up everywhere with hives and look like Quasimodo

an hour or so later they were all over her back

then they were everywhere and I began to freak out...

nice bum.. ha

after i took these pics she said her tongue felt funny and we noticed the inside of her mouth and lips were beginning to swell really bad.... so we went to emerg and NOBODY there could figure out what was going on, it wasn't anaphalaxis , wasnt an allergy, wasnt anything. the pediatrician said it was some sort of crazy virus. i thought she was gonna die seriously, she looked SO bad by the time we got there, the only ray of hope i had was that she was acting totally normal. not even a fever, she was running around, talking to the nurses and other sick people, who most likely thought she was a leper or something. and so in the end they Gave greta some major prednazone and sent us home.

the hives began to dissapear the next day and never came back again.. weird. but definatly one of the scariest moments with our little girl. i though it should be documented.

Oh What do you do when its cold outside?

2009-03-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure if its just me, but I've been losing my mind staying indoors basically for 2 weeks. Between nasty colds for all of us, and ridiculous weather its been brutal to say the least. But the ray of sunshine is watching Greta develop her little imagination around the house, and learning to play so good by herself and actually have fun! A few moments were captured on film of our 2 weeks of House Arrest.

Dressing up in EVERY costume...even ones that are for 6-12 month babies.

This is "Sid the Treasure Hunter" (no idea where she got the name)who walks around the house looking for "treasures" that will fit into that tiny case...ie. money, hairclips, fruit snacks, beads, you name it. She has become quite the hoarder.

This one's called "How many toys can we put on Ozzie's face before he gets totally annoyed?" Greta thought it was halarious....me too! poor little guy.

Dick was left in charge and turned Gretas bed rails into " Auroras Castle" by making a canopy over her bed. She loves it, and pretends to prick her finger on a spindle and fall into a deep deep sleep everynight.

She got into my primary stuff and came running out proclaiming " I'm Build the Bobber"

And the hoarding continued as she set up a " Picnic" for Ozzie and I strategically lining up everything she could get her little hands on, and offering us "Strawberry shortcake milk and celery...cause its a healthy snack."

good times...

new perspective

2009-03-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

So this past while I've been a bit edgy and complaining about silly things in life, and thats SO not my normal nature. I hate it. I blame most of it on sleep deprivation which has driven me to the edge of reason numerous times over the past months. But its nice to have those moments in life that give you that new perspective you need to get by. today was one of those days...

i got to sleep from 6 until 8:00 after being up most of the night with both kids, Dick stayed home with them while I was able to go to stake conference . great talks, felt some strong impressions that are sometimes hard to feel at church when you're trying to "tame" the beasts. then i came home, played with my kids, made banana muffins, watched a video on the prophet, had dinner made FOR me by my oh so kind babe, talked to my family on the phone, and finished off the night listening to Ozzie laugh hysterically at Greta making silly noises and having the best time. and as I watched them interact and laughed with them I thought about how my day COULD have gone IF...

i didn't have a kind supportive husband
i didn't have the gospel of Jesus Christ
i had to go to work instead of stay home with my kids
i didn't have good food to eat and a warm place to eat it
i didn't have a great family who loves me and prays for me everyday
i wasn't blessed to have to 2 sweetest kids in the whole world

i have absolutely NOTHING to complain about, and when I think of something, I want to remember how I felt today. i'm so grateful for today.

Bowling Time

2009-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

So we spent our Valentines day at Eastview bowl with the Coopers! It was a good time, and Gretas first bowling and "glow" bowling experience...her and Elias had a blast! I sucked at bowling as per usual, but honestly who is good at 5 pin anyways?...lame. A few highlights.

You can't see it but Greta's shirt looked rad under the black lights! she was excited!

The kids trying out the "squat and roll" technique. I love the little bowling shoes!

Daddy daughter time...I dont know whats with the pencil? keeping score by hand?

The Stance

They are such good lil' buddies (most of the time). They look extremely grown up in this pic...makes me sad.

Ozzie finally woke up to join the festivities

It was a lot of fun, we'll have to go again for sure. Even though Greta spent the majority of the time dancing to the MTV videos rather than bowling.

We had to get a treat after of course...and the kids clearly enjoyed themselves! LOVE Elias in this one!

Greta always asks if she can have the "whole fing" and has eaten the paper at the bottom a few times too.

5 months already?

2009-02-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, times flies as everyone says, but seriously it feels like its been one really looooonnngggg day since Ozzie was born, and then all of the sudden he's 5 months old and a BEAST!! He's so young, but already has quite the personality...here's a few things I know about my not so little guy.

No matter what kind of day/night i've had, or how exhausted or frustrated I might be...this kid can calm me in 2 seconds with just a smile....and I feel totally at peace.

Ozzie loves 3 things in the world the most: 1) Milk Milk milk 2) The sound of his Daddy's voice
and 3) Greta... he watches her play/dance non-stop, she makes him laugh more than anyone else...he LOVES his Big Sis!

Naked time is his favorite time of day...he cant get enough. I just put soft blankies and his teddy "Toot" on him and this kid is in chubby heaven!

If he could, he'd stand all day long. Ozzie hates to lay down for very long unless he's sleeping. Even the bumbo he gets annoyed with and has already "bucked" out of there a few times. The jolly jumper is his best friend, and mine too!

Once you have kids its hard to remember what life was like when they weren't around. That is so true with Ozzie, he has such a calm sweet spirit and I look forward to everyday with him, watching him change and grow, and out-grow everything he owns!

multiple pics

2009-02-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

okay so i havent posted a blog in awhile because everytime i try and add multiple pictures they get added in reverse order ? super annoying... any suggestions? am I just un-smart?

just a thought...

2009-02-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

When dick and I were first "dating" this is the picture he sent me so I knew what he looked like..

...this is why my kids are so cute!

Slept like a "baby"?

2009-01-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

okay, one thing i know for sure....the phrase " I slept like a baby" has some serious descriptive errors. First of all, in my house babies dont sleep or 2 year olds for that matter...basically at all. they only wake-up to scratch, scream like a little girl for no reason, ask for lip stuff 49 time or get their arms out of their wrap and keep me up all hours of the day and night. So if someone says they "Slept like a baby" ...i feel sorry for them.

Here are some more accurate versions ...
" I slept like a retired senior citizen...with his hearing aids out" or
"I slept like someone who has no kids" or maybe even
"I slept like someone who drank a bottle of NyQuil"

That to me would make more sense. I cant wait until one day when I can truthfully say
" I slept like someone who had the mis-fortune of watching an episode of Thomas the Train."

top 10 lists

2009-01-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

okay, so one of my favortie past times is writing top 10 lists of random things...heres one for today.

Top 10 reasons I know I'm getting Old

10. My body aches when the weather changes
9. I can sing along to most of the bad music they play in Elevators
8. I was called "m'ame" by someone working at Old Navy
7. Greta says " Mommy you're too big to play in forts"
6. I remember the day I signed up for my first e-mail account...in the LCI library
5. All of my wedding pictures were taken with a 35mm camera...no digital action.
4. I could easily go to bed at 10 every night and be perfectly happy
3. I no longer feel appropriate wearing any form of skate shoes...not that I want to really.
2. I feel like a bit of a pedophile because I'm a little too excited for Zach Efron to play Rhen in the Footloose re-make
1. I'm too tired to think of a number 1 reason

5 years

2009-01-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

So, we recently celebrated our 5th Anniversary on Dec. 19. Hard to believe its been 5 years already, even harder to believe we have 2 kids, a house, a lot of school debt, and a surviving plumeria plant to go along with those 5 years.

Dick made me the most beautiful wood carving of our family as a gift, it is truly stunning. He used half of each of our faces, and his dental tools to create it, not to mention he did it all during exam time. I am constantly amazed, and sometimes disgusted( in a good way) at the broad rage of his talents. He can create so many amazing things with his hands, and has been blessed with an intelligent mind to retain more knowledge than I could ever even think of. And I would literally be in a psych. ward if he wasn't such a great father and help with the kids at home...he is truly a wonder and I am very lucky to have him as my husband and best friend.

blog day 2

2009-01-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

okay, so i'm a blogging imbecile so to speak. i have no clue whats what on this thing, but I found this background and managed to add a picture so i figure i'm doing well for day 2. i think i'll use this more like a journal, and then i might actually enjoy writing one.

in other news...i'm afraid i'm starting to become one of those moms other people look at in the stores and go...man can't she get it together?

I leave the house with a soggy toque over my greasy hair, throw on whatever pants dont have spit up on them, and pray that i can get out of the house alone before on of my kids starts whining for me. Then while i'm gone I ask random people questions about my purchases not so much for their opinion, but more so that I can have an interaction with a grown up for a few minutes...then I realize they're staring at my black make-up smuged under my eyes from Sunday( the only day I wear make-up) and are thinking... how pathetic.

New years resolution #347... dont leave the house unless I look appropriate enough to blend in with the rest of the Non-stinky-unstylish-desperate for an escape- humans out there, unnoticed.

what the?

2009-01-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

how on earth do you blog? this page set up is ghetto, i need some cool background paper and some know how before i'm ever gonna be motivated to actually do this thing...is it okay if i never use capitol letters? i find they are a waist of time.