March Madness

March was a crazy month!  And man did it fly by.  Why is it that the older you get the faster time goes?  Shouldn't it go slower since you are more aware of time and time is more precious to you? I wish my life would go as slow as it did when I was a kid.  I'd really like that.

So March. We started the month off with our first visit home while being in Texas.  We left on March 2nd.  We were on the road for 11 hours.  It was pretty much equivalent to our flights home from Hawaii so Gracie is well versed in the long travels.  I had prepared a binder full of things for her to do, packed a bunch of toys and snacks and brought the iPad to keep her busy and happy. She did great, but by the time we got to Wichita, she was ready to be in Omaha.  Griffin was more difficult to keep busy than I had assumed.  I thought he would sleep good and play fine, but his naps were short and he played with all the toys but was over them quickly.  We stopped a few times to stretch, but for a crawler and wild man like him, sitting in that car seat was torture.  Besides the few hiccups, the drive went well and the kids did great.

Our first day there was Saturday and spent seeing grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins.

On the road

She kept making this crazy face. lol

Oh Omaha, how I missed your beautiful face

Goofballs.  Gracie helped a ton in entertaining her little bro.

Grandma Pam bought her this cardboard house.  She loved it!

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to see these ladies.  My former coworkers!  Jennifer had sent me a text jokingly asking me if I could fly up for the Maroon 5 concert.  I told her I would already be in Omaha!!  What luck!  So we headed out for dinner at Pitch then over to the concert for some awesome music, one good looking man and lots of laughs.  I love these girls and miss teaching with them on a daily basis.  Thanks, as always, for inviting me and being such amazing friends.

Jenn, Lori, Jennifer and me

yum :) lol

Omaha

Monday was dinner with my family.  I love spending time with them because they crack me up.  We are one crazy family when we are all together in the same room.

On Tuesday, Justin's 2001 baseball team was inducted into Creighton Prep's Athletic Hall of Fame.  We were excited to see old friends and for Justin to be part of such a special event.  We got to see some old friends and catch up with them.  I also got to see my buddy, Emily Krebs, as Charlie (her husband) was part of that team.  There were others inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame as well, two baseball players, a basketball player, a family who sons wrestled and were also inducted, an announcer, and the baseball team.  I'd tell you all about the team's accomplishments but I know I'd leave something out.  I'll just say they were apparently pretty amazing and ended their season 3rd in the nation.  An amazing feat to say the least.  I am so proud of my hubby even though I was not there for any of it.  It sure makes me wish I had been!  He grew up playing baseball and spent countless hours practicing, strategizing and playing the game.  What an honor for these guys.  After being a part of this event and being with Justin for 10 1/2 years, I truly believe that Prep is a wonderful school for boys.  They mold boys into some of the most amazing men out there.  My hubs being one of them :)  I've been sold on the idea of Griffin going there when the time comes.

Charlie gave the speech on behalf of the team.  Here are some of the boys men.

The team

Justin and his grandparents, Spike and Jan

Justin and his family (minus Mike-he had already left)

Me and my hall of famer!

The plaque hangs in the Hall of Fame room

My mom and sister babysat the kids that night.  Gracie loves playing with her cousins Lizette and Benny.  Griff was a stinker when it came to going to bed, but Aunt Di is a pro and finally got him asleep.

Cousins!

Doing his yoga

Wednesday night was pizza with our amazing group of friends.  The Griesmans hosted the whole gang and all of our babies.  We were almost out numbered by our children.  We had Erin and Chris with 2 children, Katie and TJ with 2 children, Erin and her 2 boys, Emily and Matt with their 2 boys, Emily and Charlie with their little girl, Megan with her little boy, Kristen and Casey with their little boy and then us with our two kids.  In total, we had 13 kids (only one being over the age of 4) and 14 adults.  Next time we meet up, we will have 2 extra little ones in the mix as Katie and Erin G. are expecting this summer!  My how times have changed.  It is so much fun though!  Wouldn't change a single thing.  Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures!! Go figure.  I would have loved one with us Mercy girls and our babies and had one with Megan (the only non-Mercy girl who went to Marian.  It's almost the same thing right?).  

Griffin learned to wink and blow kisses while in Omaha.  It is so adorable.  We are loving reliving all the "firsts" again with the Griffster.

He is "winking" here ;)

Thursday, we went to Defy Gravity with Emily, Regina, Jude and Dominic for some trampoline fun.  Again, forgot to take pictures :(  I wish I could hire a professional photographer who could just follow me around my whole life and document every day for me.  That would be awesome.  Maybe a future present from the hubs, family, and friends.  Wishful thinking?  Nahhh.

We did dinner with the fam again.  Here's all the cousins minus Andrew and Reyvin.  Not sure where they were but we missed them!

Almost all of the cousins.  The babies grow to fast!

Friday, we were able to get together with some other friends and both of our aunt Tinas, for a trip to the zoo.  It was a bit chilly but still nice enough to venture out.  We love seeing the Magdanzs when we are in town.  Gracie misses her daytime buddies, Fiona and Callie.  She talks about them often.

Bundled up.  Sorry about that pink blanket Griff.

Gracie, Fiona and Callie

Family picture at the zoo!

My goofy gorilla

Checking out the monkeys

Carousel ride with the girls

My sister Tina with the peacock

Petting zoo

Crazy driver alert!

My little sweets all snuggled up

Saturday, we hung out with family and packed.  We were going to leave on Saturday to have a rest day before Justin headed back to work on Monday, but we decided against for 2 reasons. 1. There was supposed to be bad weather on our entire drive back down and 2. We didn't want to leave.  Glad we got the extra day.  Now, looking at these pictures, I feel awful because I realized that I don't have any pictures of the kids with Justin's family!  We stay at his mom's house when we are back and maybe because it's not really an "outing", I don't get the camera out.  I'm terrible.  Next time, Andresen/Feldman family, I will be more prepared.  So prepare yourselves.  You have been warned :)

Gracie loved her little cardboard house. She worked on coloring it all week, and by the end of the week, she had herself a stove and tv in the place!

We left early Sunday morning to avoid the bad storm that was quickly approaching.  That bad weather from Saturday, seemed to have slowed it process and began early Sunday and was much worse than we expected.  By the time we hit Oklahoma, we had heard about the ice/snow and the cars that slid off the highways.  We were so thankful to have left at the perfect time.  But then again, I could've stayed a few more days.  My babies were exhausted by the time we got home and that trip home to Texas was much more grueling because we didn't want to leave Omaha.  But on a positive note, we made it safe and sound.  Can't ask for more than that.

Tired travelers

**Side note: How lucky are we too have such amazing, loving and supportive friends and family to change their plans just to see us or hang out with us.  Seriously, we.are.blessed.  I will never have enough "thank you"s to express our gratitude.  Being gone/away from home, really makes us appreciate seeing you all even more.  We are reminded how blessed we are to have each of you in our lives.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for finding time for us, calling us and more importantly being our friends/family.  You have no idea how much it means to me and to our family.**

March continued with more playing, my birthday and then, we wrapped it all up with some Easter fun (Griffin's 1st!).

Neighborhood kids had a "Spring Break Party".  They had a water balloon fight, water balloon toss, shaving cream fight and movie with a snack.  Gracie had a blast playing with them and participating in the festivities.

Shaving cream mess.

On a Wednesday (Gracie's got that infamous pink leotard on), we stopped outside for a little playground fun.  And yes, Griffin is in pajamas. :)

We also worked out in the garage.  Griffin is extremely strong for his age.

Crawling?  That's for wimps.  I can deadlift 4x my weight.

Tea party with my princess

This is one of the last pictures of Griffin with a gummy smile.  About a week later, his first tooth finally popped through!

Ahhh I love this face.

Gracie also thinks that after we lay her down for the night, she can get out of bed to play.  I really want to take all the toys out of her room, but unfortunately for me, I have no where else to put them.  Well played Gracie.  You win.

Playing dress up instead of sleeping

Relaxing with Daddy

Miss Gracie Head

Mr. Griffin Head

That picture that we took of Griffin and the barbell was later posted on CrossFit Football's main page.  Now not only is he strong, he's been published! lol  Some of the comments were pretty funny.

My birthday happened on the 26th, and I received a super sweet and super thoughtful gift from my dear friend Alyssa in Hawaii.  My bracelet is in the shape of Oahu with a heart in the middle.  Mahalo Alyssa!  I spent the day with my babies, and Justin made some yummy dinner and yummy chocolatey brownies.  My stomach is growling just thinking about it.  28 was a good year filled with the birth of our second child, my first real hike, living in the most beautiful place, moving yet again and job hunting.  Definitely a year of some really great highs and a couple lows.  But man, what a year.  I am so blessed.  29, you better be good to me!

Through gymnastics, we have met two moms and their sweet, adorable girls.  One of the moms invited us to their church's Easter celebration.  They had a petting zoo, games, egg hunts, and pony rides.

She loved petting the little piggy!

And the bunny

Griffin's egg hunt.  We forgot that shoes might be useful here.

Looking for the perfect egg.

Gracie's very 1st pony ride!

So excited!  Can you tell?

Getting inked

Gracie's egg hunt group.  A little chaotic.  She went in there and just stood there looking at everyone else.  Apparently, we needed to practice before we came.  There's always next year :/ 

Griffin giving praise. hahahahaha

That night we colored Easter eggs and enjoyed a few too.

Getting ready

Concentrating

Man I love those cheeks.

Didn't care for the egg that much. ha

The next day was Easter.  The Easter Bunny came and dropped off baskets for the kids.  Gracie had fun on her egg hunt (she seemed to have figured it out after the church one) and eating up lots of candy.  Griffin liked his snacks and bubbles too.

On her egg hunt

Playing with all of her Squinkies that the Easter Bunny brought.

First of many of these Easter bunny ears pictures.  See below.

Gracie with the Easter Bunny ears through the years.  So stinkin' cute!!!!  My baby girl is getting so big and changing so much.

First Easter- age 10 months

2nd Easter- 22 months (1 1/2 years old)

3rd Easter- 2 1/2 years old

4th Easter- 3 1/2 years old

With the last post, I offered up some insight into my job hunt here.  Here's another update for the month of March.

-Granted my 1 year temporary Texas certificate

-Attended another sub orientation for the Keller Independent School District

-Applied for more jobs

-Still jobless :(

Hoping April has some good news in the teaching job department.  Justin will be finished with his portion of the job sometime in May.  After that, we don't know where we are headed.  It could still be here or Kiewit might move us to another state.  It's the Kiewit life.  I've learned over the past couple of years that you really can't plan out every step of your future.  It really just happens on its own.  I've learned to deal with it and to try my best to turn it into a positive.  I've given my stress and worries about this up to God and hoping and praying that whatever is in store, is just what we need as a family.  What's that saying?  "Let go and let God."???  Yeah, done that.  So far, so good. :)