Wordless Wednesday

Last year in school Gannon made his first tree ornament. They helped him put the glue on, but he had to put all the silver glitter on. He was SO proud of it, but we didn't get it to bring it home til after the New year. So this year is the first time we have ever been able to hang it up! So of course I got it out this year and let him decide where he wanted to put it! Oh the look on his face was priceless!

Happy Wednesday!

Twosday News

Well its Twosday again....so off we go!

My first bit of news is: Cale's first 2 days on the job were GREAT! He has already had appointments with perspective clients and even SOLD his first roof last night! YAHOO! Cale is now the Sales Manager here locally for a roofing company. So the 2 week out of state training was well worth it! He has been treated much better in this last week from his new employer then EVER in the past! I am so happy for him. We even celebrated last night with some Champagne! I am SO very proud of him and its great to see him happy again.

My second bit of news is: I am thinking we are in the beginning stages of awareness with Elise. For the last 3 days she has brought me a new diaper and asked to get a change. She has also not wanted to wear a diaper for short periods of time throughtout the day. We have not had any accidents yet nor have we had an success' in the pottying on the chair yet. But this is a small baby step in the right direction. I will be as patient as is requires! Last night I had to buy diapers and pullups for both kids. Which totalled $82.20(and this won't even last very long at all!). So needless to say having 1 out of disposable and IN underware is a must!

Weekend wrap up!

Since I don't know if our carpet is going to be replaced or not, we decided to go ahead and set up our Christmas decorations. I didn't want to wait around for them to replace it, only to find out it won't be til the end of next month. So I started to dig out all of our kid friendly decor. One thing which is part of the tradition is bringing out our Tree quilt.

2008

2009

Elise was SO excited to see the tree. Last year Elise was just a little over 1 years old and really didn't understand all the Christmas comotion. Well this year is much different. She knows alot more this year and I can't wait to help her understand the true meaning of Christmas. We are reading books each night and learning more and more.

Gannon has also grown this past year. When I look back at old pictures and my documents to see what Gannon was working on last Winter, I am so proud of him. He has came so far! I can't wait to see what this next year will bring. Gannon will be turning 5 years old in less than a month. Granted he is no where near the "average" 5 year old, but he is gaining more and more skills which I am extremely pleased with!

Gannon brought me the camara the other day, so of course I took a picture with him! My poor kids are so used to me being their own personal papparatzzi that apparently when I took a few days off, they missed it! Elise came to me last night and said "Mama take my picture!" haha...oh my poor babies!

Thanksgiving 2009

Today is our first holiday on our new diet lifestyle. What does that mean? Well it means no turkey, no stuffing, no gravy, no ham, no butter split top rolls, and no pies. I am talking about NON celiac foods. So for us, today is like anyother day of the year. Our new food is what we will be eating. I searched all over to find a turkey for Gannon that was "safe" but didn't find anything.

I honestly don't think the kids even noticed. Cale and I were the ones who longed for our comfort foods. But instead we enjoyed things that are more important or a bigger part of the day. Having our family back together! Oh how we missed Cale so much. I didn't get any pictures of the kids and Cale as he came home. We decided since it was nap time for Elise, we wouldn't go in to see him walking down the hallway. Instead, we met him outside the airport after he got his luggage. Elise was on the verge of crashing...of course that is until I said " I see Daddy!" Boy did that girl light up! She started screaming "Dada...Dada..." and then " I can't see him.....where Mama!" Oh it was priceless! So of course Cale rushed over and gave a kiss to the kids then hopped in and off we went. Elise was SO excited! It was like she couldn't believe he was really home. The whole ride home she kept saying, Dada's home!. So needless to say as soon as the kids could get their arms around him....all was good at the Warden home. After spending some much needed time with their Dad, it was naptime. I don't think I will forget this day for many years to come.

We decided to spend Thanksgiving here at home. We did go over to Cale's Mom's for dinner. I packed up the kids food and headed on over. It was a great day overall! By the time we got home, the kids crashed hard! I think between Cale coming home and playing hard all day, then going over to families house...just was over stimulating because both kids were out in 5 min of hitting their pillows!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

Every time Gannon gets a chance, he will talk to his Mimi!

TWOSday News-November

Happy Twosday! Today I will share some news but I also wanted to take a trip down memory lane. November has always been a tough month for us. Nothing tragic, but just hard times. Those hardtimes seem to be eased a little by our children's faces'. Before Cale and I had kids, he was working in the car business(selling and financing) and I worked in the medical field. For whatever reason, it always seemed money was tight even prior to starting a family during this month. Of course, it hasn't gotten any better since we started having kids. But no matter how much money or lack there of, being together as a family has always made the hard times bareable.

In this photo, Gannon's leg that you can see it nice a fat. Well that is because he had his colostomy bag in. He had his first surgery September 2005. Gannon had 2 more surgeries that month as well. The last one was Sept 30th, and they stitched the cath and bag into his tummy. Gannon was not allowed to really do much of anything. No crawling or jumping or twisting...pretty much all he could do was sit and play. So we would surround him with toys so he wouldn't have to go far. But as you can tell by the look on his face....you would NOT have known! He literally was the happiest kid I had ever met! He had been put thru so much trauma at such a young age...but never the less, he persevered. He was literally the best way God could have helped me along into Motherhood. Of course there were trying times and lack of sleep here and there, but overall a GREAT first chid by far!

After we brought Elise home from the hospital for the second time...he was instantly hooked to her! That was because she was able to breathe and eat and be relatively pain free. As long as I stayed up on her medicine..she was a great little girl to be around. Over time Gannon got used to her crying alot, and didn't think twice about it. He also became a pro at making her stop crying! He would just come over and get in here face :) It was the cutest thing! She thrived on his attention and he was very curious about this little person. I am so thankful that God is the one in charge and not me. Because of His devine intervention, I have this beautiful little girl. If it was up to Cale and I, she wouldn't be here because we decided we would only have one child. We even went as far as scheduling this vasectomy the day before we found out we were going to be parents again! Such a blessing!

This is our littlest baby girl. She was a very fussy baby, but her mood would change as soon as she saw her big brother! He could light up her face from day one!

My first bit of news is: we are all VERY excited Cale comes home tomorrow! I fully respect single Mom's out there, but its just not for me. I am so lucky to have such a loving and supportive husband. This week has been much better than last week ironically as far as the kids go. Everyone is sleeping...finally! It sure makes Mommy in a better mood getting more than 4 hours of sleep each night :)

My second bit of news: is we are turning a new leaf. Things are changing constantly. I have a game plan to change Gannon's wavier work! I am doing some research as far as what a good preK curriculum will be for Gannon. I know I am going to add in numbers and days of the week. Currently Gannon is learning his alphabet and colors. But we really need to get on the ball. Only 6 months left and its Kindergarten time! EKK! So I am excited to see what I can come up with for Gannon. We are also going to start preschool work with Elise. She does some things great already, but really need to work with her more and make her set goals just like we do with Gannon. Cale is also starting a new job as of December 1st. So we are in prayer as we start on a new path in our journey called Life. Cale feels confident about coming home and being able to start this new job. I hope I have good news to report on that next month!

Happy Twosday! If you are traveling, be safe and have a great week!

1 week down

Today, marks one week. One week ago today, Cale left for his new training. It has been an eventful week that is for sure! The kids and I did pretty good, honestly I can't complain. It's much easier now to be alone for long periods of time compared to when there were little. They are much more independant now and can play very well together. The only down thing...is I still can't get both of my kids sleep thru the night....on the same night! I get one to sleep all the way thru...and then the other one wakes. First it was Elise...then Elise again...then Gannon...and then they cycle repeats! :)

Good thing I am in survival mode to where I know no matter how tired I am...I still have to take care of 2 kids. I don't have family close by that can take them for a night or anything like that. So I have found ways to adjust without any problems! The kids and I have actally had a great week! Lots of time with me playing, pretending, baking, you know...all that Mommy stuff. And of couse LOTS of work!

Elise has really expanded her vocab....again! She is so funny! Now she can sing entire songs, read books....its crazy! We have gotten out several holiday books and read them a couple times, and know has it all memorized! She is JUST like her Daddy. Cale can literally read something one time and remember it....forever!

Gannon has been such a snuggle bug this past week! And if you know me, you will never hear me complain about that! I LOVE that he still wants to snuggle....daily!

All of of sudden, I decided to deep clean! You know, in all the spare time I have(ha!). So needless to say our storage room in the basement...is clean! Even vaccumed(which by the way I think was NEVER done after they built the house). I cleared out everything and then organized as I put stuff back in there. I have started to get our some Christmas stuff. Nothing major yet. I found out we are going to get our carpets FINALLY worked on! So they are replacing the pad and everything! So til that is done, I won't be setting up anything! Just a few things here and there....to get us in the mood! We have NOT even started any Christmas shopping this year. I actually have no idea what I am even getting for the kids. Gannon's birthday is also less than a month away...so yeah.....we have to get on the ball!

I was trying to get a cute picture of Elise on this quilt because she loves it so much. Cale's Grandma(Mammy) made it for us a few years back. But literally she was doing good, then I couldn't get the timing right with my camara...so it went down hill :) But literally the face on the left lasted less than 1 min. I started singing this one song from Gannon's class...and bam...I have a Happy smiling girl! Life is NEVER dull with a toddler/preschooler in the house!

Happy Sunday to everyone!