A Recap - January to April!

Ok, so Jake tells me I am the worst blogger ever. I do a great job keeping up my Krafty Blog, but when it comes to the family one I kind of suck! ;) So while he's out enjoying 18 holes of golf with the guys, I thought I would surprise him that I finally got our blog-o updated! So this is seriously PICTURE HEAVY, but so fun going back through everything! Enjoy!

So, recap of the last few months!

January

Brady turned 7 on the 21st!

Brady got a new bike

Skateboard, helmet and pads (along with some clothes and toys)

Brady's actual birthday fell on a Thursday, which happened to be Senior Night for the wrestlers! So, the other coaches arranged for the Cheerleaders to sing to Brady! It was so cute, but he told me he was so embarrassed after! ;) (PS - the one side where its not full is the visiting team, the other side of the stands was packed of course!)

Here are a few pics of Jake coaching that night. Man, he is such a hottie! Love my cute husband!

Then there was the Little League wrestling club the high school hosted. They only did one tournament, but it was sure fun!



February

State Wrestling! Just one pic of the arena Jake took. He was gone for three days and we missed him a ton! They had I think 6 or 7 kids qualify for State, and their Freshman 103 pounder was the only one to place. He took 6th. They had a blast though and are really excited for next season.





Jake had a fancy work party that was a Black Tie Event, so we got all dressed up and had a blast!





Monster Trucks! After State Wrestling was over we took the kids to Monster Jam. It was kind of their reward for being such awesome kids through everything!

I forgot to take a pic (bad me!), but Gwynie did her Science Fair Project on lava lamps, and how they work, and the experiment, etc. She did incredible on it! Her teacher even asked if he could keep her board as an example to show future classes what it should look like! ;) I helped a little, but it really was all her! Just helps to have a crafty momma right? I do have pics though that we put on her board, this is one showing the bubbling. (Oil, water, food coloring and alka seltzer)

March

Disney on Ice! Grandma Deb and Poppa Wayne bought all the grandkids tickets (except for Sydney, she's too little still) to go to Disney on Ice! Gwynie and Hannah did't plan on wearing their twiner shirts, but it was too cute!

Deb and Wayne got Brady a bow for his birthday, so once it finally warmed up he got to practice in the front yard!

April

Snow! BOOO SNOW!!! April 1st - not kidding!!

Easter! The kids love dying eggs, their baskets and egg hunts. Just booooo snow!!

And our doofy dog Bridger. He has gotten HUGE since December! His paws are bigger than Brecken's already! Breck turned 3 this year too, crazy! So our little pup will be bigger than his big brother soon! This is one of his typical positions on the couch, weirdo.

And, I chopped off lots of hair again! ;) Super short, but I'm getting used to it! Gwyn also chopped her hair, I'll have to get a pic of her cut to post soon!

I also started a new job! I wasn't looking to leave, but an opportunity came up at Jake's work, and one thing led to another. Within a matter of a few days I had a brand new job! I gave my two weeks notice, and started my new job last Thursday.

Freestyle Wrestling Club

So the other thing that's been going on is the Freestyle Club. Jake is the chairperson for the club and has been running everything!! Since mid February we've had 3 day a week practices (Tues-Thurs) and then Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon tournaments. Next week is our last tournament, and its State for both Freestyle and Folkstyle. Jake has been coaching not only Brady, but their other kids that signed up. So nice that a few of the highschool kids came and did it, too. They will definitely have an advantage next year! I have a folder where I'm putting all those pictures (and videos). Not counting this weeks tournament, I have 1079 photos!!! I have picked out 25 so far to post to the blog. I have a feeling I will be scrapbooking those for ages. ;)

Speaking of scrapbooking...I have fun news in that area, too!

Kandi's Addiction, erm Hobby

I was so excited to have a some fun opportunities come my way! Not sure if I'd mentioned it or not on the blog before, but I was choosen to be on a Design Team for Skipping Stones Design. I get free stamps (can't beat that), and create cards with them weekly. I LOVE their stamps, so funny and sassy! I've been doing that since December.

Last month I also found out I'd gotten a spot on the Staff Reporter team for Craft Critique! I've had one article published so far, and have a few in the queue. I have assignments based on what I currently have, or plan on buying, to write my articles on. I've also been fortunate enough to be selected to review products, and have them sent to me by the vendors! Woot! :)

I've had a few more cards picked up for publication as well, and have loved seeing my cards in an actual book! It was kind of surreal, walking into my scrapbook store and seeing my two cards and MY NAME in a book! Then, next month I was in Hobby Lobby and saw that months mag with a card of mine. Wow, talk about cool!

And the end...

Ok, well I think that's about it! My plan (HA!) is to get a post ready after next week of all the Freestyle Wrestling stuff going on and a recap of that. After that, well I think we are MORE THAN READY for a break! We felt like we've been going a million miles an hour...wrestling 5 days a week, working, kids homework/school stuff, then just trying to have fun every now and then. ;) Spring Baseball/Softball starts mid May though for the kids (Jake's team starts next week), so I'm sure we will be ready after three weeks of boring-ness and nothing to do. ;)

A New "Do"

So I was getting really sick of my hair and decided just to change it all up. I was sick of maintaining the highlights as its a pain, and a small fortune. Do you know how many stamp sets I could buy with the money I was spending on my hair?! ;)

So I cut off 9 inches tonight (gasp! I didn't realize I had that much to cut off!) and dyed it a light brown. I think this might be the closest I've had to my natural color in years, but honestly, I have no clue what my real color is at this point. Its really more of a dirty blonde at the roots, but this color works for me.

At work I got some stunned, surprised looks, but everyone all said it suited me very well and as one friend told me...its make me look more together and sophisticated. Cool, I'll take that! As Jake told me, this is his new favorite picture of me.

Update!

I can never seem to go to bed at a decent hour on Sunday nights...too true tonight as well. So since I can't sleep, I'm updating!

It's been reeeeaaaalllllly cold here! Friday it stared to get chilly and they forecasted it to snow Saturday night. So Saturday afternoon we decided we better get the kids' new winter coats! These are what we ended up with after 4 stores!

Gwynie's coat is so cute on her! It's a long style that is cinched at the waist. It has this awesome hot pink lining and a furry hood. She loves the hood, but I'm sure she'll have static-y (? is that even a word?) hair forever!

Cute cute!!

And here is Brady! Of course he got a blue one! He loves his coat because it's blue and has so many pockets in it!

After buying coats we took the kids for haircuts. Gwynie has been driving me crazy asking to get bangs...I really liked her haircut but gave in to this shorter, choppier version. It works, but I can't wait to see what it looks like when I actually style it.

She was so serious, lol. This is the side view, this is a little more choppy looking than I wanted, but I figure in a couple weeks it will be blended in pretty well. The other side isn't even trimmed up like this so I'll have to see how it looks later and maybe get it trimmed up to match. She likes it so that's all that matters!

Brady just needed a trim, but he still wanted a picture. His hair grows so fast! Nothin special, no gel or anything today, just plain clean hair!

Somehow Gwynie got Brady to give her a foot rub and a massage tonight!

So we made her give him one too!

Friday night was Brady's very first sleepover! His friend from daycare isn't in his same class, but they see each other at the playground and at daycare everyday. When Jake picked them up from school Friday the boys told him what they wanted for dinner. Apparently they thought it up at recess. They decided on ravioli's, spinach, and fruit! Taylor cleared his spinach, but Brady and Gwynie ate just enough to get the Mom and Dad approval that they were done. They had a blast!

This was about 5 or 6 tonight. The snow really was coming down! Glad we bought their coats yesterday!

Haircut and a Popsicle....

Well out kitty had her kittens last week. She had 4 of them and the kids are so excited for baby kitties in the house. Me not so much... I let the kids hold one kitten for just a minute. They can't wait until they are bigger and then can play.

Brady was pretty excited!

Gwynie's new haircut! She had been begging me to get it cut, so yesterday we went. She loves it and can still put it in a ponytail. She started tumbling last week and is loving it! Good thing she can still pull her hair back!

Here is Brady demonstrating what happens when you stick your tongue to a popsicle. It was stuck for little bit until he worked it off. He laughed about it though!