Busy!

Its been a while since we've posted, yet again. Things have been very hectic lately! In a good way, though. At the end of June we took an office trip (with our kids) to the Omaha Zoo. We had a blast. Here are some photos of the trip, taken by my coworker Jackie Suckow! I was very impressed with them, so we ordered prints off Shutterfly! Be watching for your photos!







We had just been to the zoo in May as a family-and it was amazing how much Addison had changed in even just a month! She loved all of the animals and was more adventurous. It could have been because other children her age were with us, or because she had been there before. At any rate, she LOVED it! We were even able to go to the night exhibit (where its pretty dark) without her being too afraid! Go Addison!

A few days later, we headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for the 4th of July. We left on Tuesday and got home on Saturday the fifth. It was great spending time with Bryan and Darci, Taylor and Ian, Grandma and Grandpa Lantz and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Einertson! Addison loved the sand and the water! We even went to a children's play place called "Miner Mikes". It had an indoor roller coaster (which looked like a train) and bumper cars! The kids loved it! Addison repeatedly told us, "one more time" after each ride. It was hilarious.

We have a very busy weekend ahead, too. On Friday night, Jody and Campbell are renewing their wedding vows. Jody is our friend Adam's sister. They will be renewing their vows at the Historical Building. Saturday, we are attending another wedding for Chris's uncle Joe and his fiance Lisa. Sunday, I have a wedding shower. In between all of that, we hope to see my parents, also.

That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.......

We've had an eventful week. First, it was Memorial Day, and YAY for long weekends. We went to my parents on Saturday and visited them while they camped at Squaw Creek. It was a nice weekend. We had a full crew, including Grandma, Mom & Dad, Molly, Mike & Gabe, Pat, Debbie, and Mackenzie. It was a relaxing weekend. Addison loved spending time with Bepa & Mema (Grandpa and Grandma).

It seems as though the closer Addison gets to age three, the more perceptive she is. Just last night we were watching TV and told Addie it was time to go to bed, to which she responded, "No Dark". It was difficult to understand at first, but eventually we figured out that she was telling us it wasn't dark yet and that she didn't have to go to bed. She has been using this excuse lately, but it doesn't fly with Mommy and Daddy!

In other news, tonight we had a very difficult night getting Addison to bed. Why you ask? Well, she is scared of the EASTER BUNNY. She has been falling asleep in our room and then we move her to her own room once she is asleep. She thinks that the ceiling fan is the Easter Bunny, and she is terrified. She was in tears over this bunny. We tried to remind her that this was the bunny that brought her presents just a few months ago, but she did not care. She told us that the Easter Bunny was up on the ceiling and she was "cared" (scared). So, we pretended to kick the bunny out of our house. What a night. We tried to use it as a way to get her to fall asleep in her own room, but that didn't work either. Who would have thought that the Easter Bunny could be so scary?

Other than that, nothing else is new right now. We are enjoying spending time outside and we've been at the park a lot. Just tonight, Addison met another little boy at the park, Frank. It wasn't long before they were running all over the park together like long-lost buddies. You should have seen Daddy's eyes when Addison grabbed his hand. She's starting early! LOL. To remind us that she's still "our baby", she did go #2 in her pull-up at the park. Sigh.........

Until next week!

From Our Nest to Yours.....

A new baby....the zoo....water slides....We've had a busy last few weeks! We welcomed a new addition to our extended family: Gabriel David! My sister and her husband, Mike, had a baby boy on Monday, April 27th, 2009! Of course, we went to visit my sister and the baby, but I was unable to hold him because I had a cold. Finally, this weekend they came and visited us and I was able to hold him. He's so precious. Below are some pictures of his birthday:







Aa you can see, Addison is so proud of her new cousin!

Last week, I had a presentation for work in Kearney, Nebraska. Not the most fun vacation spot, but we made the best of it. On the way, we stopped at the Omaha Zoo. We had never been there before. Addison was a little scared of certain exhibits, which you can tell from the pictures, but overall she had a great time! She loved the penguins and the cats.













After the zoo, we drove to Kearney, Nebraska. Our hotel was pretty nice. It had 2 indoor water slides and a kiddie area with small slides. Addison was too afraid to go down the kiddie slides, even though they were toddler ones. She is very cautious about things like that. We managed to get her to go down once, and Chris unfortunately had to go down after her because she had stopped in the middle of the slide and was crying. It was a site to see, that's for sure. Addie decided that she wanted Mommy and Daddy to go down the big slides. I must be getting old (LOL) because they freaked me out! In my defense, there were some teenagers at the pool that said they were really fast. Addison loved swimming and we stayed at the pool until 10 pm! It was nice to get away, even if just for a night!

Finally, I am posting some pictures of a robin's nest that just happened to be on our front door. Everyone laughs at me, but I have been extra careful so as not to disturb them. I even tell people to enter through the garage! The girls at work tell me its good luck...and I hope they're right! Anyone want me to buy them a lotto ticket?

Parenting, Rule No. 1.......

This week Chris and I learned a lot about parenthood. First Rule? When your kid is quiet, they're up to something! Don't think for one second they're quietly playing in their room, or watching that movie you turned on for them. Nope, you will instead find something like this.....



In case you couldn't tell, Addison decided to open up the fish food and dump it all over her dresser, and the floor...... What a mess. You would have thought we would have learned after that, but we figured a "no" would suffice. We thought we were clever and moved it up higher. Tonight, Addison was quiet and we look in her room. Sure enough, she's dumped the fish food in the trunk of her Dora ride-on toy. I don't know what's worse, the fact that its everywhere or that Roxie (our dog) ate it. Either way.....not fun!

In other news, we've had some interesting conversations with Addison lately. Just this morning, it went something like this:

Addison: Mama, my back hurts.
Megan: Oh no! Are you okay?
Addison: No, I stay home.
Megan: No, you have to go to Jessica's! (daycare)
Addison: No, stay home.
Megan: Do you want Mommy to stay home?
Addison: Yes, mommy stay home.
Megan: Mommy can't, she's got to go to work to help people!
Addison: (with enthusiasm) "I go help people, too!"

We also had a conversation involving the Easter Bunny, which is a daily topic at our house these days. Even though she's scared of it, she's still fascinated. I asked her what she wanted from the Easter Bunny, to which she replied, "Cookies and yay-yays" "Yay-yays" is her term for "Cheerios". Man, the Easter Bunny is getting off cheap this year!

We've also been enjoying the sites and sounds of Spring this year. We have a pond by our house, which is actually labeled a "marsh" because of the duck habitat. It actually has a duck crossing sign! Anyways, Addison calls them "wack-wacks" because they live in water "wa-wa" and they quack. Combined, what do you have? "Wack-wack!". There are four large geese that are always at the marsh. These are not Canadian geese, but country geese like you would see at a farm. Let me tell you, these geese are AGGRESSIVE! We got out of our car and sat on a rock, just watching some smaller ducks swim. These geese booked it across the pond and literally got out of the water and started chasing us! I thought they were going to bite or someting! Not that they have teeth, but you catch my drift. Addison loves to hear them squack and go crazy!

We've had some crasy weather here in Iowa, and of course Mother Nature has reminded us that Winter isn't over. We got about 4 inches of snow last Sunday! Of course, this weird weather has given us plenty of chilly days for cuddling!



Just a little update on Chloe, too. She has now had 5 weeks of crate rest and we are counting down the days until she can roam free again!

Stay tuned for more exciting updates on the Lantz's!

Spring is Here!

I can't believe its Sunday already.....the week has come and went. Addison was sick the first few days of this week with some sort of bug. We aren't sure what she had, other than a fever. Chris and I took turns staying home with her because we both had hectic schedules this week.

We've also had some serious issues with Addison's sleep schedule. We think she is afraid of the dark now. For some reason, she just SCREAMS if we put her in her own room. We've tried everything-crying it out (which we really couldn't handle), stickers as a reward, a new princess alarm clock, ALL the lights on (she insisted), sleeping in there with her until she falls asleep, etc. It's just been really hard this week.

Friday night she was doing pretty well in her own bed. We thought she was gonna do it. I had went to bed and Chris was up watching a movie. He finished the movie and decided that he would go to bed. When he gets to the bedroom door, Addison is leaning up against it, sleeping! She evidently could not get our door open. It was so precious. Last night we had a similar occurence. Addison snuck into our room while we were watching a movie and was sleeping in there on her fold-out Dora couch. It was pretty funny that neither of us heard her!

This weekend the weather was really nice, and we took every opportunity to run around town (shopping, ha ha) in the warm weather. Friday night we had pizza with Missy and Justin, and then we went to their house to play games. Joie and Addison had a great time playing! Saturday I had to run an errand for work, then we did some shopping because both Addison and Chris needed shoes. Today we did the same thing, imagine that. We were not very successful in finding Addison shoes that were worth spending the $ on. We will keep looking!

Well I will leave you with some funny phrases from Addison this week:

Addison: Mommy, my butt hurts!
Megan: It does? Where?
Addison: Right there. Kiss it!
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Megan: Addison, do you want a bite of Mommy's tamale?
Addison: I wanna see Aunt MOLLY. Where's Molly?
Megan: (Laughing) No Mommy said tamale, not Molly.
Addison: I wanna see Molly! Where's Uncle Ike? (Uncle Mike).
Megan: They're not home.
Addison: Tucker is sick (their dog).

Aren't kids random?
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One more cute story (well at least we thought so): Addison is just so proud of going potty like a big girl. She LOVES to announce to everyone that she's went. We don't worry too much about it, except this weekend we were out to dinner and Chris had taken her to the bathroom. She yells afterwards, "Mommy, I pooped!! I pooped". I am sure the people eating their Mexican food weren't to thrilled to hear that!

Happy Sunday!

These Boots are Made for Walkin'............

Wow, its been another busy week at the Lantz Household. I am happy to report that Chris was promoted to Team Lead. We were so excited for him, and had a party about 3weeks ago. I guess we haven't posted since then. (Whoops!). At any rate, he's been very busy at work.

Likewise, I've been very busy. And apparently so has Addison. I say this because last night she went to her room and was very quiet. Chris and I wondered what she was doing. We then entered the room to find that she had opened a tube of Desitin and had smeared it all over her bed. She then grabbed a bunch of wet wipes and scrubbed her bed down, apparently. It was pretty funny, but what a mess!

Friday night we had dinner with Missy and Justin. Addison just insisted on wearing these pink boots, which are hand-me-downs from her cousin, Taylor. She was wearing a purple velour outfit, and evidently they were the perfect accessory. She was so upset when we asked her whether we should put different shoes on. So, we opted to let her be creative and wear the boots.



After dinner, we came home and painted our bathroom. It was supposed to be sage, but appears to be sort of a minty sage color. We are getting used to it, though. After that, it was getting late, but Chloe began to yelp in pain. We noticed that she had the same signs that Roxie had when Roxie had back issues, so we rushed her to the doggie ER. Turns out she has the same thing, and the doctor said that she would likely need surgery. However, he gave us the option of strict crate rest, which means she is required to stay in the kennel 24 hours a day and only get out to go to the bathroom. We cannot even hold her. This is very difficult because she craves attention, and we feel like such bad doggie parents. At any rate, it is what's best for Chloe. Chris and I were devastated-just thinking about what we had went through with Roxie and the cost and pain she must be in.

Changing the subject, the weather was also pretty crappy this week. It seemed to rain for days. Addison was saying "Rain, rain go away", or some similar verison, lol. Below please find a picture of Addie checking out the rain. She was OBSESSED with this! She repeatedly told us, "Door open" or "raining".



Addison has also been having a difficult time going to bed by herself. She wants Mommy and Daddy, and demands that we leave her door open and a lamp on (a night-light is not enough). She seems to be going through a phase. We let her sleep in our bed a few nights and then moved her once we went to bed. Look how we found her:



That book beside her, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" had been on the night stand. It appears as though she had been "reading" it. Like mommy like daughter!

One night last week, I went into our bedroom (after Chris and Addie had went to bed) and found this:



Two Peas in a Pod! Have a great rest of the week!

Long Time, No See........

We've been MIA lately. It has been so busy around our household that I just haven't updated our blog like I should be doing. One of my resolutions for the New Year was to update this weekly, but you can see I have already broken that resolution. I will give you a few updates on us.....

Chris is anxiously waiting to find out whether he will be getting a new position at his job, so keep your fingers crossed. If you pray, we accept those, too! Addison is doing well. She's had a cold but it hasn't been too bad. She is talking so much now, its just amazing.

I have been very busy with work and I'm trying to get more contacts for my candle business. It has turned out to be a fun way for me to get free candles, which I love!

We bought a new digital camera last weekend, so expect some great pictures in the weeks to come!

Addison is doing very well with potty training. She went #2 on the potty three times now. Grandma and Grandpa Odell (or Mema and Bepa Ho Ho, as she calls them) got her some big girl undies! She prefers her privacy when she goes to the bathroom, and says "Mama go!" or "Mama leave!". Then seconds later she yells, "I did it!, Mama, Mama I did it!". She is then rewarded with a "ticker" or sticker, as most people call it. She will do ANYTHING for a sticker! LOL. The last time she went #2 I checked on her, and she was siting on the potty with her legs crossed! It was hilarious.

I hope everyone has a great week!