Kids will be kids...

And these Daddies will be kids too.

This was the swing jumping contest Mike and Sean had.
Mike clearly won. Not only on height and form, but he was much better at facing the camera for the photo.

And the one where Sean and Mike decided to jump at the same time for an action photo. They are so talented!

I can't help it...

I couldn't decide which pictures of these to post....so I posted them all!

Our niece, Kayla.

Cheesballs Anyone?

As you can see...we have plenty!

Markers

This is why kids should not use markers.
He's showing me his chin.

He was proud of the work he did on his hands.

Super Tate

I love having a boy. I know I would love having a girl for completely different reasons, but I don't have a girl yet, so I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that I have a boy. I love his pretend play. I love how he thinks he's a super hero...how he really believes it. I love seeing him and his Daddy...it's amazing to have two amazing men in my life and to see how they BOTH have each other wrapped around the other's finger. I'll admit, I am envious of their bond sometimes, but I mostly love it! Tate is definitely not a Momma's Boy unless Daddy's not around. For the most part I'm okay with that...not always, but for the most part. :)

So Tate recently has wanted to turn into Super Tate whenever possible. What allows him to be Super Tate the "Supo Hewoe" (as Tate says it) you ask? His green cape tied around him like a cape.

Introducing:

Super TateReady to defend himself...

If only this picture had sound you'd hear his Super Hero grunt.

But he can't hide the sweetness for long...

And what kind of Super Hero can't fly? Not this one...Super Tate can do it all!!!

This boy is MY Super Hero...my SUPER TATE!!!

Sean Graduated!

Words cannot express how extremely proud I am of Sean today. He took his final test which completed 4 1/2 years of nursing school. He got his RN pin today. He earned his BSN today. It's been a grueling 4 1/2 years. He has sacrificed so much to further his education. He has worked so hard. I don't know how he did it. He is unbelievably determined and hard working. He is amazing! It is a good day.

My Mother

I happen to think that I have the best mother....ever.
Though she and I do not always agree, I can count on her to without a doubt, tell me exactly how she feels.
She can't hide her feelings.
Though it isn't always what I want to hear, I still will know how she feels.
I never have to wonder. I appreciate and respect her honesty.
She loves her grandchildren with every ounce of her being and would do anything for them...and for her children.
She tries so hard.
She tries hard at everything she does...small and large.
And she always exceeds my expectations.
She is one of the most giving people I've ever known.
She gives and gives and then gives some more.
She truly cares for people and wants the best for them.
She has a deep faith that is the core of her life.
She is a great example to me and always gives me honest advise that is based on her Christian values.
She never gave up on me when I wasn't walking the best paths. She believed I would see the light, that I would come to live my life for Christ.
She was right.
She is amazing.
She is one of a kind.
She is my mom.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
I love you so much!

Mother's Day 2009

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.

She never existed before.

The woman existed, but the mother, never.

A mother is something absolutely new.

~Rajneesh

I have said this before, and I will say it again.
A Mother's Day (any day for that matter) cannot go by without my thinking of Tate's birth mother. She was his First Mom, the person who took care of him for the first 41 weeks of his life and then gave birth to him. I will forever be grateful for her. There are no words that I will ever be able to use to convey this gratitude I feel for her. She was his First Mother and if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have gotten to be his Forever Mother!

Amazing. Overwhelming.

No other words.

Being Tate's Mommy...

...is my greatest joy!

I love you Tate, you make Mommy happier than words can express!

Chloe DeCook

My friend Lora delivered her 2nd daughter, Chloe on Thursday, May 7th.

We went to meet her on Saturday.

She is the sweetest thing!

Mommy and Daughter

Congratulations Lora, James and Ava on the new addition to your family!

This Family...

Seems to have always been my second family.

I met Kay when we were in 6th grade. We became instant best friends. You know, the kind of friend that no matter what life brings us, no matter what different paths our lives take, our friendship doesn't diminish. She is another sister to me, her mother...someone who makes me feel like her daughter, her sisters...treat me like I am one of them.

A few years ago, Kay's sister Lora and I reconnected and began a friendship of our own. A very special friendship. It is different than the friendship Kay and I share, but the core of this friendship is exactly the same. We "get" each other, and just like my friendship with Kay...no matter where life takes us, our friendship will not diminish.

I am so grateful for this family and how they have been such a huge part of my life for the last 17 years!

I love them...

Amy, Lora (holding Chloe), Kay and Linda
Beautiful...inside and out!

Sisters...

Linda, Amy and Chloe

Lora, Chloe and Amy

Thank you guys so much for including Sean, Tate and I in your special family day and making us feel like we belonged there.

We love you!

Talking on the phone...

We went to Muscatine on Friday night and Tate was a bit confused that Nana and Papa weren't there. They are in Florida. So we called them and he got to talk with them for a while.

Hiy-Ah!!!!!!

I don't know if this is a good thing that he enjoys boxing on the Wii so much, but the video is pretty funny!

Water.

At work, our Wells Fargo Website posts a little random fact every day. This was today's fact...


In 2000, the United States alone used 408 billion gallons of water per day. This is the equivalent of approximately 1400 gallons of water per day for every man, woman, and child and that is enough water to fill 14 standard-size bathtubs! This amount includes water use that is direct (drinking, bathing, flushing the toilet, etc.) and indirect (watering the lawn, washing the car, commercial and industrial use, etc).

This is unbelievable to me!

Many places don't have access to ANY clean water!!!

People die every day, every minute because of lack of water or lack of clean water!

And as a country, we use enough water daily for every single person to fill 14 bathtubs!

Wow.

Learn more about the water crisis and how you can help eliminate it HERE.

We're at that age...

You know, the age when your child finds every excuse in the book to make in order to not go to bed. Ya, Tate is at that age. And he's desperate for any excuse.
It started out with, "I want water."
Then, "I want a tiss (kiss)".
Shortly thereafter, "I want you to lay with me."
Tonight, he started screaming bloody murder, "DADDYYYYYYYYY, DADDYYYYYYYY!"
Sean went in there and Tate said, "My foot hurts".
Sean says, "um, okay. Go to sleep."
Tate says, "otay."

He is such a stinker!

Allergies

My son and his best friend.

My allergies have been killing me...killing me. I love spring, more than I hate my allergies. Good thing, or I would HATE spring! Sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes...they are NO FUN!

Tate is in heaven right now because he can play outside all day and then all evening when he gets home. He LOVES the outdoors! Hopefully he won't have allergies.

So that's all for tonight.

Remember UMBROS?

Maybe they're still around...or even still popular, but I'm not "with it" anymore so I wouldn't know. Anyway, when I was in middle school and high school, they were definitely "in". So Sean and I were at this really great second hand children's store called Once Upon A Child (LOVE IT!) and I saw these tiny little UMBROS and HAD to buy them for Tate. I think they are so hilarious! He looked so cute in them playing soccer out front today!

I can't even stand it...this picture is so cute! I love it when he puts his hands on his hips like that!A common look we get these days...

I scream, you scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

There's something about warm weather that makes me want DQ! This may be common for most, but not for me. I've never been a big ice cream eater. I never used to like it as a child, but sometimes I just crave it. Last night was one of those times. We were ALL craving it! It was DEEE-LISH! After eating our ice cream outside on the benches at DQ, we went for a drive and ended up at Chris and Brenda's. We put Tate to bed in their bed and stayed there until 2:30 in the morning! We played Cribbage and Catch Phrase and just hung out. It was a good time, but we were dragging this morning. Well, Tate wasn't, but Daddy and Mommy were!

"I want to hold him"

Tate was very sweet with Baby Ollie. He asked to hold him at one point. We decided that was not the best idea probably! He started to become a stinker about 15 minutes after our arrival to meet Ollie. He was way past his naptime, but did pretty well for the most part. He was very gentle with Ollie.Sean was really enjoying his cuddle time with Ollie too!

Think he was tired?

Meet Baby Oliver

Sean's cousin Tammie and her husband Derek and daughter Sophie welcomed Oliver Michael into the world on Friday evening. We went to the hospital to visit them and meet little, precious Oliver on Saturday afternoon. He was SO SWEET!!!! Oh how I love to cuddle tiny newborn babies!

I LOVE their feet too! Look at those long toes!

Mommy and her baby boy.

It's about time...

I know that's what many of you must be thinking! It's been an entire week since my last post! Sorry for the break...this week was very busy and I failed to get my camera out as well as nothing terribly interesting happened in our lives that I felt was blogworthy.

So you will be getting a few posts this afternoon. I'll start out with this...

Tate has been enjoying his moose antlers all week. He got them at the Mall of America last Sunday when he met this big moose that was walking around.

As of late, Tate has been especially interested in being a big brother/father figure to his stuffed Manny. He wants to bring him with us when we go places, he insists that "he's pooping" and then changes his diaper and says, "I wipe his bum" when doing so. And as you can see, he wants Manny to sit right by him in the car seat as well. When we went to the mall yesterday, he insisted Manny be strapped into the stroller and he walk alongside Sean and I. We turned on the music in the living room today and I was swinging Tate around and dancing with him. When I put him down, he grabbed one of his stuffed Mannys and said, "Manny turn now". So then I danced with Manny and he copied me with his other stuffed Manny.