Where has the time gone....

Funny how this blog was something I religiously updated at least once a week for three years and now I never make time for it. I mean, I still have pictures from Easter that I have yet to upload from my camera!

I guess it is a good/bad thing. Good meaning we are so busy that I don't have time to go through my camera and work on this blog. Probably because going from one kid to two kids leaves us with our hands full. I am going back to school so any free lunch periods or time in the evenings that I would have to be on the computer I'm doing homework. And probably because I've taken on a new hobby of bow hunting for Whitetails. So- if I have free time and my homework is done, the kids are busy doing something and I have nothing to cook, clean, or attend to- I find myself hanging out in a tree. Bad meaning I feel like I had quite the baby book going of Adventures with Miley- and poor Cooper is barely documented.

So, here's to old hobbies, may they always hold a special place in my heart and to new hobbies that I soon hope to reap the benefits of by bringing home some meat. Oh yeah- and the kids are doing great! I Love them to pieces. :)

Tap Dance

Miley's First Dance Recital

These videos are taken on the night of her rehearsal. She got a little scared at the recital and froze up for the first part of both her dances. Once she warmed up she started doing her dance and having fun, in the last 15 seconds. But, we are proud of her none-the-less and she said she LOVES dance and can't wait to start up again in the fall! :) And Mommy loves having her little dancer!!!

Trying to Make a Come Back

So, I've been unmotivated and uninspired and probably too busy to blog much. But I'm hoping for a come back. It's been a long winter and I haven't been myself and I'm starting to feel better now and am gearing up for some new adventures.

I got to experiment with a new easy recipe last night which I posted on Mindi's Magnificent Meals. Check it out!!!

Cooper's The Big ONE!!

Cooper James has turned ONE!!! It's so hard to believe that he has been a part of our family for a full year already! He is growing up so fast!

Stats: He is 29 pounds and 31 inches
He has 12 teeth and I can see white buds where his canines will be coming through.
He has been walking since 10.5 months so he is walking quite well now. He is almost running at times and just two weeks ago finally got the hang of standing up from sitting all on his own. He's quite the monkey too, he climbs up on everything. He loves climbing into the fridge and taking out all of our condiment jars.

We had a great first birthday party for him! We did a monkey theme since Coop's nickname has always been 'Chunky Monkey'. I made his cake similar to Miley's cake, a two layer round funfetti cake, I added some extra blue frosting to his cake. We served chili cheese dogs and they were a hit!! I have to say that this being the fourth birthday party we have thrown I finally for it right. We were so relaxed and the meal was so tasty and super easy!

I'm ONE!!

Kelly took some 1 year photos of him. Here are a few of my favorites!

Miley Turns 3

All right, all right- yes, I'm almost a month behind. Just needed a little time off from being creative. But now I'm in the mood again.

Miss Miley turned three at the beginning of January. On her actual birthday she got to spend the day just her and Mommy. I asked her to pick between going to the MOA to go shopping and go on the rides, Chucky Cheese, or swimming and she chose swimming. The YMCA in Hastings was so kind to allow us to be guests for the day seeing as she has taken swimming lessons there. We had the whole pool to ourselves and she loved it. She is quite the little fish. :)

That evening we went out to eat for Grandma Pam's birthday as well. When we got home Miley got to open her present from us and from Brendon and Shelly as they were on vacation over her party. We got Miley her very own digital camera. It's pretty neat! She loves taking photos. And Brendon and Shelly got her an Easy Bake Oven! Let's just say Mommy has had more fun with that, but she sure enjoys eating all of the yummy treats. (Side Bar: I ALWAYS wanted an Easy Bake oven but never got one- this is the BEST part of having a daughter, getting all of the fun toys for her that I never got!)

That Saturday we had the family over for her birthday party. Of course, she didn't take a nap that day so she was a little crabby at the beginning but she soon warmed up and had a blast. She loved when we sang happy birthday to her and of course opening the presents!

This years cake I ordered an edible topper again and made a double layer round fun-fetti cake. The middle was filled with pink frosting and then I pipped frosting on the outside.

Since Miley is now 3 we decided that she is now big enough to learn how to put herself to sleep and sleep in her own bed. She was doing this for awhile when we first had Cooper, but then she got sick and slept in our bed for a few nights and it then became habbit for both of us. She would fall asleep with me in my bed and then I'd bring her to her bed and most nights she'd end up back in our bed. She now has a sticker chart on her door and she gets one sticker for falling asleep in her own bed and another sticker for staying in her bed the whole night. It only took two nights and she totally had this figured out. She loves the reward and I'm not going to lie and say she's been perfect, a few nights here and there she ventures into our room and we tell her that she only gets one sticker and she gets a little upset with herself and says she is going to earn two the next night.

We are signing her up for pre-school in two weeks! I Can't believe it! But we are SOO excited for her. I think she is going to LOVE going to school! We have decided to send her to St. Paul's Lutheran pre-school. We are hoping to be able to send her on Monday's and Thursday's from 8-12:30 or 1. This will allow her to have lunch at school as well. She's turned into a picky eater and we are hoping that sitting down with the other kids and seeing them eat will inspire her to eat what is given to her as well.

Seems like just yesterday.... 

Duluth 2010

Taylor and I took the kiddos on our first family of four vacation all on our own! We did a long weekend in Duluth. They were really good in the car on the way up and back home. The last 20 minutes both ways for Cooper got to be long, he had had enough and I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained.


When we arrived Cooper was ready for his afternoon nap so I took Miley to the pool while he took a nap with Taylor. Miley LOVED the pool. She hasn’t been swimming in a pool since her swimming lessons last spring, so it was fun to get her in there again. After we swam we got ready to go on our first train ride of the weekend. We took a short ride to the Bentlyville Tour of Lights which next to the Aquarium just as you enter Duluth. The lights were amazing! They had such cool displays and free cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows to roast in the fire pit area. They had Christmas creatures roaming around to pose for a photo, we met Mr. Penguin and Mr. Rudolph himself! We could have stood in line to see Santa, but it was cold and we were going to be visiting Santa on Saturday so we decided to skip that part. We got back to the hotel after the tour and had some pizza and curled up and watched the Christmas movies that were on that night.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast and headed for the pool. Cooper LOVED the pool! We spent about 2 hours there! Miley even participated in the sailboat races! After we swan we had lunch and a much needed nap. Then it was time for the main reason we went up there- the Polar Express train ride!!! We boarded the train which was covered with lights and had Christmas Music playing as you entered. We sang Christmas carols as we road to the “North Pole train station” which happened to be the train museum. We entered the train station to see the toy engines up and running. Then we were escorted into the next room where they had carolers singing and a big carpet rug laid out on the floor. The Children sat and were entertained by a Story teller reading them the Polar Express. The train station was decorated in lights and Christmas décor. After the story each child received their very own Christmas bell and they got to meet with Santa. Miley LOVED him and Cooper did well too. Miley said she wanted Dinosaurs- girl ones, not boy ones and told Santa that Cooper wanted some boy toys. (Yes, Santa did some last minute shopping to find some Girl dinosaurs as to keep the magic alive, she is CERTAIN Santa will bring her them!) We got to tour the train station before the Polar Express picked us up again and brought us back to Christmas Town where we got to have cookies and hot chocolate by a big bonfire. Then it was back to the hotel for some Olive Garden to go for Taylor and I and McDonald’s for the kiddos and then we all curled up and watched our favorite movie- The Christmas Story and drifted asleep.

It was a great little family Christmas Vacation and we hope to do something like that at least every other year. It was fun to do something special as a family at this time of year, and Duluth is so pretty in the winter. And shocking enough, they had less snow than we did!

We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Winter with the Pagel's

Well, it's been a month since I posted, that is SO not like me! It's been busy, when does it ever slow down? Never, for us! Cooper is 10 months now and we all have bets on him being able to walk by Christmas! Wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas present!!! He could do it, if he just would get brave enough. He barely hangs on to the things he holds when he walks and he has stood free standing by himself for periods of time, so now we just have to get some courage.

He has now decided he is an independent eater, he doesn't really go for the baby food anymore, he would rather feed himself. His FAVORITE foods are crackers and cooked carrots. He could seriously eat those all day long! He likes just about anything you put in front of him, I just hope he stays that way. I know I am trying to be very concious this time around about making sure he eats lots of veggies over and over again because I think, with Miley, we didn't push them on her and now she wants nothing to do with them. So, fingers crossed for Coop.

He has 6 teeth and the 7th is just about to pop. He seems to have slowed down a bit in the growing department. He is holding steady at 18 month clothes and I think we will be there for the remainder of the winter.

Happy as a Lark eating carrots!

Getting ready for his FIRST Christmas!!! Cutting down his FIRST Christmas Tree!!!

Next winter buddy, you can come out and make Fairy Snow Castles with Mommy and Miley.

Miss Miley- wow, Miss Miley. She's a SPONGE. Please watch out for what you say around her now! She will be quick to tell you if you say something that is naughty and quick to ask you what that "*****" (Insert word) means. I said 'freaking' the other day and she says, "Mom, what's a freaking?" Oh man! Good thing that was all I said!! She certainly is in the Terrible Two stage and heading into the Terrible Three's. She is Sassy but OH so cute! She makes us laugh daily! She says the funniest things that are well beyond her years. She loves to sing and makes up songs all the time about what she is doing. "Putting it in the Garbage, I'm putting it in the garbage, in the gggaaarrrbbbaageee....." I love her!

She's quite the girly girl too- loves putting on makeup with Mommy and doing her nails and she seems to always end up wearing her dresses by the end of the day, even if they are meant to only be worn in July!

Having Breakfast and a story with "Mrs. Santa" she called her.

This is one of her FAVORITE dresses.

Building Fairy Snow Castles

Picking out a tree and playing with snow balls

I'm sure, the first of many years where Family Christmas pictures will just not quite turn out how I imagined them too. :) Oh, the memories!