Monday, December 28, 2009

# 2 is on the way!

Yes, we are having another baby! I am 15 weeks along already and the baby is due, June 19! We are so excited and anticipating the baby to come. I have had a touch of morning sickness, but nothing compared to when I was pregnant with Jack. That was morning, noon and night! Over Christmas, we told the entire family and it was so fun to see everyone get so excited. I already feel more at ease with this pregnancy as I kind of know what to expect now. Our ultrasound is scheduled for January 25. We will hopefully find out if its a boy or a girl. We will keep everyone updated as to how the pregnancy is going and the babies sex. We are so excited!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas is here!

Wow! We had a busy Christmas this year. Lots of places to go and many family members to see! It started with Ben's parents celebration on Christmas Eve in the afternoon, then the Ford side of the family Christmas Eve night. We got home and planned to have my brother, Jeremy and Mom stay over at our house to wake up Christmas morning with us. That was fun a but late night. I didn't get to bed until around 2am! My brother, as usual, keeps us up laughing at the most stupid things. Christmas morning came and the 5 of us had a yummy breakfast and then opened gifts. Jack actually enjoyed opening gifts this year! He would get all smiley and say, "whoah!" when he got a present. It was very cute. He had the most presents under the tree this year! :). Then Christmas night we went over to the Walker side at my Grandma's house and it was a mad house over there. Around 35 people in all celebrating Christmas in one house!

Above all, I can say that God has blessed us greatly this year with keeping us healthy, sustaining us and reminding us what Christmas is really about! JESUS! We thank him and praise God for his birth!


Kate and Derek at Ben's parents in their annual "Ugly Christmas Sweaters"
Me, Jack and "Santa"

Gift opening at Ford celebration, Christmas Eve

Uncle Jeremy and Jack, Christmas morning

Mom opening her gift from us, a nice set of dishes!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Texas!

The weekend before Christmas we flew to Houston, TX to visit my Dad, Step-Mom Barb, lil bro Blake, and sis Kayla. My dad flew us down there for Christmas so we could celebrate with them as they would not be coming to MN this year. It was Jack's first trip on an airplane, so we weren't exactly sure how the trip down would go, but it went just fine as the ride was only about 2 1/2 hours long. The whole 4 days we were there was jam packed. We took lots of rides on the motorcycles as the weather was in the 70's, ate lots of yummy food (mexican! and my favorite, King Crab Leg night :)), relaxed in the hot tub and enjoyed a fun-filled weekend spent with family!

The fam

Jack and his Harley trike from Grandpa and Grandma

Dad and Blake reading Jack a new story

Ben and I on the motorcycle, getting ready to go to Galveston

Dad and I in Galveston on Sea Wall Avenue

Jack and Grandpa in the hot tub

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Wild Game!

On Tuesday, December 15th, Ben and I got invited to go to the Wild Hockey game with Ben's sister, Kate and her boyfriend, Derek. We had such a blast! We started out the evening going to our favorite St. Paul italian restaurant, Cosettas! It was so yummy! Then we met them at the game. We had such awesome seats! Only one row away from the glass and adjacent to the goalie. It was an awesome game and the Wild won and we just had a good o'l time spent with Kate and Derek! Thanks guys!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

All Bundled Up!

It started snowing during the day on Tuesday, December 8th and continued on into the night. Many schools in southern MN shut down and I closed down the daycare as all my kids parents thought it was a good idea to not travel and stay home on Wednesday. As Ben went out to shovel on Tuesday night, I got Jack all bundled up and put him outside to play in the snow. We got about 5-7 inches that night and it was so beautiful out. I just love it when it snows in MN, but I hate driving in it! I guess I am in the perfect profession as people come to me!
Anyway, Jack had a great time playing in the snow for the most part, but since he could hardly walk in his snow suit, he fell a few times face first into the snow, which he didn't like one bit. Here's a pic of Jack in his snow suit. Pretty sure this is the last time he will wear it as it was already too short on him the other night! :)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Jack's New Tooth Brush



Since Jack's teeth are just starting to bloom in his mouth everwhere, I thought it was time to get him a "Big Boy Tooth Brush". I figured he needed a little coaxing, so I bought a Thomas the Train toothbrush with music. So every time he brushes his teeth the music comes on. Now that brushing is a morning and nightly occurance, Jack hears the music and he comes running into the bathroom all excited to brush. : ) Let's just say I'm glad I spent the extra couple dollars to get a brush with music. I find myself humming the toon during the day, but I secretly like it!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Jack - 18 Months!

Jack turned 18 months today! I cannot believe my little boy is 1 1/2 years old! He is changing so much and saying lots of new words every day. His little vocabulary is really starting to grow as he loves reading with Mom and Dad. His latest words to name a few are; baby, puppy, happy, cow, kitty and the funniest of all, poop! ha. Jack has become quite the dare devil these days. He's wrestling with Daddy, jumping off our couch and getting on top of just about anything he can stand tall on. We are so blessed to have our little Jack.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Happy Birthday Ben!

It's Ben's 29th Birthday today! We celebrated Sunday at Ben's parents house with Ben's favorite meal...Pizza and CocaCola of course and watched the Vikings game. Next weekend Ben and I will celebrate his Birthday by going to Tunucci's Restaurant to have their excellent Pribe Rib Buffet. They only have the buffet on Saturday nights so we have to wait another week. Happy Birthday babe! Jack and I are so thankful that you were born :)


Celebrating at Bens parents

Ben at Jack's age!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween has become finding some cute costume for Jack and then parading him around at our families homes. This year we went to Ben's parents house and then the Walker Grandparents to visit. Jack "decided" he wanted to be a Dragon this year, so I wasn't going to object as he was very cute in his costume.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Sever's Corn Maze

Ben went hunting this weekend, so we decided to go to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee with the Lesnau's. We had lots of fun and the weather was quite nice. There was a Corn Maze, Giant Corn Pit, Petting Zoo and lots of other fun things to do for kids. Earlier in the week we were stuck in the house for a few days as Jack had the Flu. We were was so glad to get out and have some fun!

Aerial View of this year's Corn Maze, pretty sweet huh!!


Haley & Jack

Candice and I in the Corn Pit

Amanda the "Scarecrow"!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Jam Packed Week!

Last week Grandpa Mike was in town from Texas. He came back to "winterize" the Siren, WI cabin and of course to see us! It was so nice to spend time with him. We didn't want to see him leave but knew it would only be a couple months before we made our way down to Texas for Christmas!

This weekend we went to Gena's 27th Birthday dinner at The Mediterranean Cruise Cafe and the food was excellent. I cannot believe she turned 27 and it makes me not look forward to my birthday in February! Life just flies by too fast!

We then made our way over to our friends, Rachel and Forrest's new home in St. Paul. They were having a "House Warming" party. It was so nice to see Rachel. On the way over I was figuring out how many years we have known each other and it's been 17!! It's so awesome to have old friends!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Jack's New Kicks!

Since Jack has been running all over town, I thought it was time for his first pair of hard-sole tennis shoes! I've always loved the Converse, "Chuck Taylors", so I knew exactly what I wanted to get him when we went searching for his new shoes. He tried them on at the store and they we so adorable on, I had to buy them! He had alot of fun the other night trying the new shoes out..

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Camp Waub O Jeeg!

Last weekend we decided to drive to Taylors Falls and go camping. We always go to this place called Camp Waub O Jeeg. I grew up going to this campground and just love it. This was Jack's first time camping so we werent completely sure how it was going to go. It was a little hard getting him to bed as it was an unfamiliar place (and a tent!). Warming up his bottle was also an adventure but we finally got him to sleep after about a half hour of crying in the tent. After, we enjoyed talking around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and taking in the nice crisp Fall air. In the morning, Jack was so excited to get out and explore. He kept picking up acorns and putting them in his mouth! Now that he is walking, (almost running) everything is so new and amazing to him. It's so awesome seeing life through a childs eyes. It really does make you appreciate things more!







Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Just Because..

On Friday afternoon, Ben came home with these roses for me! I just wanted to post a pic, as they are blooming so beautifully!

Friday, September 4, 2009

1st Week of Little Munchkin's

Well the first week went great and just like any new career it takes some getting used to. I am adjusting well and I am really enjoying it! Jack is also enjoying seeing me more too. Oh and by the way, he's officially walking everywhere now, he started out very slow and wobbly, but now it's full speed ahead. It's so nice because he can get anywhere he wants! I guess that can also be a bad thing too! : ) We also purchased a quad stroller and I am glad we did! It gets us out of the house for a walk and the kids love it. Well I hear a child waking up. Here are some pictures of our first week.


The three boys!

Jack and baby Colton

Going for a walk in the monster stroller!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Last week of corporate work..

This is my last week of working in a corporate setting, before I start my daycare business on Monday, August 31st. I am really looking forward to this new chapter in my life, but it's going to be a drastic change. I know that I will be able to adjust, I just wonder how long it will take? The one major thing I am worried about is going from working with adults everyday to interacting with children everyday. That will be a huge change! I will probably need to get out of the house when Ben comes home from work on those tough days! I am however, SOOO excited to be home with Jack. The past 15 months have been wonderful with him, but I know that I have missed so much of his life working outside the home. In doing daycare, I will be able to see him everyday and make an income too. So it's the best of BOTH worlds!! I am so blessed to beable to do this and can't wait!

Friday, August 21, 2009

My Little Munchkin's Daycare!

So much has happened since my last blog. This has been in the works for a long time, but not everyone knew until, Monday, August 17. I quit my job that day and I plan to start a licensed daycare in my home! Ben and I have been working so hard over the last couple of months to get everything in order for our licensing visit/fire inspection and the hard work has paid off!

Yesterday, I had my licensing visit with Dakota County and it went great! Now we just have to wait for the fire inspector to come next Thursday to sign off on everything and given there are no hiccups, I will be licensed and IN BUSINESS! I already have two kids signed up and starting on, August 31st and I am so excited for this change. ;) Here are some pics of took of the daycare. If you know anyone that needs a quality, Christian daycare for their little ones, (we are located in Burnsville) please let me know!!


Playroom #1

Playroom #2

Playroom #3

Nursery

Kitchen

Eating Area for Kids

Bathroom for Kids

Changing Station

Cubbies/Play Kitchen

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Jack took 4 steps tonight!

I got home tonight to find my little boy taking 4 steps towards the sunglasses I had in my hand! He was crying the whole way cause I kept moving away from him, but he did it! I was so proud of him, I started crying with amazement! It was such an awesome feeling. With the progress he's making, we'll have him walking in no time! Will post a video soon :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Ford Family Reunion -

Last weekend the entire Ford family got together up at my grandparents cabin in Pequot Lakes, MN. Even though it was a little hectic, it was so nice to see everyone and spend quality time together. We enjoyed yummy home cooking, pontoon rides, & card playing. On Sunday, we celebrated my Dad's 50th Birthday. It's not until August 18, but it was a perfect time to do it since everyone was in town.


Jack and I relaxing on the swing

The whole fam

Me & My Dad

The Christensen's

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Jack Jack

My daycare lady sent me this adorable picture of Jack asleep in his highchair. I just had to share!

My little buddy tuckered out!