Oh yes he did!!

Yay for my little guy who is officially "almost" a big boy! The last couple of weeks have proven to be quite successful for Luke and potty training. Still a few issues to work through, but we are SO much closer to being done with diapers than we were a month ago!! What a cute little tushie!!

We're Alive!

I swear...we are all alive and breathing (though at a frantic pace at times)! The last month...well the last 2 and 1/2 months...have been moving at incredible speeds. We finally closed on a home at the end of July and started moving in over the course of the next week. We are about 75% done with the major house projects and will be very happy when construction is finally done and we can have our house back to ourselves. For a "turn key" house we found plenty of projects to make it our own, but we are loving it and trying to get settled in a little bit more everyday. Work is good, a lot to learn and trying to figure everything/body out, but I like my team and my product category so all is good. Kurt left Sunday for banking school in Seattle for 2 weeks. I don't think the boys realize how long he will be gone...I already do!

Blake started Kindergarten last Monday...big day to say the least. More on that in another post!

Hard to believe the summer has almost passed us by. We joined the Atlanta Zoo and have been a couple of times. They have 3 panda's and a carousel (or mer-o-sel as Luke calls it) so it's a big hit with the boys. We've had lots of playtime with the Steinemann's too. The kids have fun together. Drew has found 2 more boys that he can chase around to his heart content and sweet Hannah is either in the thick of it or watching from a distance thinking "what on earth is wrong with these boys!!"

In general, life is good right now, just need to remember to slow down and enjoy it! These boys aren't getting any smaller and sometimes we forget that all they want is just a little bit of our attention and everything else should wait. The summer has been so hectic that we are contemplating a quick trip to either the ocean or the mountains next month. We need a break from what seems like our permanent vacation!

How can it be? My baby boy has turned 3!

To think this time 3 years ago I was sitting in a hospital pondering how on Earth I was going to be able to raise 2 little boys! Fast forward, and I mean FAST, 3 years and I still sit here wondering how on Earth can I raise 2 little boys! Or at least survive raising 2 little boys! Oh my!

Our precious little Luke William (aka Lukey, Louie, Big Lou, Lou Buggers, Wukie, L-dub, Lillum, Stinker, Big Guy....). I couldn't love you more. You are the most unique little person I have ever encountered. Sweet as sugar and yet salty as a pretzel! Since you were a tiny baby you have had us wrapped around your finger. You have more facial expressions than any other baby/toddler I have ever met. You are rough and tumble and yet so sensitive ("that too loud", absolute fear at the car wash, and when you know you have really gotten in trouble and curl that bottom lip up). I love your fluffy brown hair and those eyelashes that go on and on. I love that you want to do everything by yourself and be such a big guy, yet you want nothing to do with potty training or giving up your nuk. I love how "all boy" you are...the word poop or butt can get the biggest giggle out of you. I love how you love anything to do with wheels. Your trains, your cars and of course your big red car that you sure are missing this summer. We'll get it back soon I promise!! You can be so sweet and outgoing and then in the next minute telling a perfect stranger in an "ele-bator" that "you're not my friend ANYmore". I love how when you want your back scratched at bedtime you say "scratch me!" I think it's pretty cute that you pronounce your "v"s like "b"s and call DVD's "DBDeeps". You are such a chatty little guy and you are constantly making us laugh with your version of something you have heard us or Blake say like "no way man". You are obsessed with the Big Bad Wolf and are always telling us some story about how you are hiding from him or that you are going to fight him. You still sleep good at night so I suppose you aren't having nightmares about it!! When I asked Luke to say hi to a bird the other day at a park he said to me "Mom, they aren't kids. They don't talk. They are animals."
My oh my how much you've grown. You are our stout little guy...a friend recently dubbed him "tank" and that couldn't be more fitting. Even though it would hurt my feelings if the tables were turned, I kind of like that you tell Daddy "no, I'm Mommy's boy".

Fast forward 3 years and I can't imagine my life without two little boys. We have been so blessed to have 2 healthy, happy, handsome little fellas. Happy 3rd Birthday Luke William. We love you more than you can imagine!

Some Goodbyes and Hello's

We have been so busy settling into life in Georgia that the last month has flown by. Hard to believe that a month ago we were just trying to find the grocery store and now we are trying to figure out shortcuts, new restaurants and fun things to do with the boys. We are getting closer to finding a new home and will hopefully be in something by the end of this month.

Quite possibly the best smoked pork and brisket burger I have ever dreamed of. Pappaw - it beats "crazy dave's" by a landslide!

Yes, they have Chuck E Cheese's in Georgia too! And unfortunately (oops I mean fortunately) it is right beside our apartment complex and Kurt and the boys drive by it every day to and from daycare. Luke screams "Look it's Chuck E Cheese" every time we drive by.

The BIG Chicken. A Marietta/Atlanta landmark. The beak and the eye actually move.

I realized we also had some fun photos from some of our Minnesota "goodbyes" to share. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and neighbors who made our departure a wee bit easier through your kindness, support and lots of hugs!

Blake & one his favorite boy babysitter...Riley
Luke & Sarah

Blake, Henry, Luke and Charlie...I had to take about 15 pictures to get this one! They could not stop giggling and being typical silly little boys!

Blake, Chloe, Luke & Aleksandra...they had so much fun this night. Well they always have fun together, and it was great that we could get them all together. We are so excited for these amazing little girls to be big sisters!

Pirate cupcakes at Blake's last day of school. He took treasure boxes to his classmates too. This was a hard day. We had grown to really love the teachers at Cradle Club and miss them dearly. Blake had such great teachers who showed him so much love and kindness from his first day there last summer.

Luke got to take Choo Choo cupcakes to school on his last day and his teachers made him this sign. We really miss this gang too. Luke was so enamoured by his teachers and I now know how much he had them wrapped around his finger too. There were a lot of tears in this room that day...and mostly from me and his teachers. A while back Luke had found a little stuffed doll in their stuffed animal bin that he became attached to. He had to sleep with it at nap time every day and he would call it "his dolly Chloe". Dolly Chloe got to come home with Luke and when I saw it in his bag it just melted my heart.

We are doing good and enjoying discovering a new city, but we do miss you Minnesota!

Birthday Fun...Medieval Style

To celebrate Blake's 5th birthday and make sure he felt super special on his big day without a kid party this year, we took him to the one place that would be a dream come true to our knight in shining armor in training...Medieval Times!

The fun started on his actual birthday with a pirate cake that we pieced together with pirate themed candles and men that he picked out. As soon as he walked in the door the party started with cake and presents. His little face lit up when he walked in the door and saw everything right there...especially the presents! All he wanted this year was the "batman car that holds 2 batmans." He got a few other things to go with it...but was thrilled to get exactly what he wanted! We ended up having to give Luke some of his birthday presents too in order to keep our family intact for an evening! Blake flipped out when Luke even looked at his new Batman stuff!

Then last Sunday we took the boys and our friends the Steinemann's to Medieval Times for some "finger lickin' good" food (seriously, no utensils in the place) and some jousting! It was actually a ton of fun and interesting to watch. We had great seats in the front row and I have never...and I repeat NEVER...seen 4 little kids so riveted to their seats for 2 hours. The boys each got a new set of armor and swords and had so much fun cheering for the Blue Knight.

I am pretty sure Blake would rank this as one of the best days of his life!

Happy 5th Birthday Blake!

Hard to believe, but my little baby Blake is 5!! My sweet little angel who stubbornly came into the world 8 days later than anticipated, but nonetheless, set my world on fire. I sit here looking at him and wondering where on Earth did 5 years go? He is such a little boy...no signs of my chubby cheeked "little linebacker" anymore. He's now our "little skinny guy." Seriously...I swear we feed him, but he is just skinny! I think back about all the milestones achieved in the first year of life and how everything was so well documented. Now life comes at us so quickly that I barely have time to blink and the next thing I know we are buying bigger clothes or it's time to head to the Stride Rite store for a new pair of shoes.

He is getting excited about Kindergarten, but at the same time would choose to stay home and hang out with Mom and Dad everyday if he could. He's such a good little friend. He has already made friends at his new preschool and is eager to find even more new friends.

Here are some things about Blake's last year that I will always remember:

1. Him learning to swim without floaties. I've never seen him so proud of himself and he is honestly doing a great job at it. He is confident and willing to try everything. He has even gone off a diving board. I don't think I have ever even done that! Given that I didn't learn to swim until I was 18 or 19, I am so incredibly proud of him. I hope this is a sport/pasttime that he continues to pursue.

2. His first organized sport - soccer. He would get so excited when the ball came his way, yet he wanted to be as far from it as humanly possible. I loved sitting there watching him with my bud Megan by my side to share in the humor of him playing in a mud puddle rather than chase a ball around.

3. Christmas with Mammaw and Pappaw...it was so fun to see how excited he was about Christmas this year. And when we played the video of Santa's message from the North Pole - whoa - I've never seen eyes so big! I'm so glad that my parents got to be with the boys while they are little and the magic of Christmas is at it's best.

4. Kindergarten orientation at Rush Creek - even though we aren't going there now :( it was still so fun to see him discover what would have been his school. He was pretty pumped up about the bus ride and meeting "Rocky the Raccoon!"

5. All of our fun playdates with Aleksandra, Chloe and his neighborhood buds. It has been so fun to see he and his buddies grow up and turn into such adorable little boys and girls. There will always be an echo of squeals of laughter and pure happiness that rings in my head.

6. His idolization of friends Riley and Sarah. I have never seen him so smitten with 2 people. They are such good kids and were such an awesome babysitting duo. The boys absolutely loved having a boy babysitter and Sarah just melted their hearts. Blake would ask for them to come over and play pretty much every night.

7. Blake telling Aunt Jill that "Mommy let's me say bad words at home!" Had to be there to fully grasp the humor, but I think Jill, Kurt and I will share that laugh forever.

8. Finally getting the hang of writing his name. I have been so proud of him achieving this milestone. We were starting to wonder if he ever would, but he has finally gotten the hang of it and now I smile every time I see that wonderful signature on all of the school work he brings home.

9. California - we had so much at Disneyland. I was so surprised that he was terrified of Mickey and Minnie, but at least we learned that he has a slight issue with costumed characters. I also get a kick out of him "falling" in the ocean. I am quite certain he will never dip a toe in the ocean again without reminding us of the time he fell in. Which in reality was him getting swept off his feet by a little undercurrent, but boy was he mad!

10. Field Trips and Special Events - Renaissance Festival, Minnesota State Fair, Curious George Live, the Circus and Disney on Ice...he loves this stuff. It is so fun to sit back and watch his imagination go crazy. His love for costumes (specifically pirates and knights) is so funny. He loves to put on a costume whenever we have company!

11. His sweet little voice and listening to his genuine laugh at something funny. He is starting to understand jokes and when people are pulling his leg. It's pretty cute to see his sense of humor develop.

12. His precious face. He is our boy that likes to crawl into bed with us in "middle of night" and loves to share our pillows. I do love falling asleep looking into his angelic little face and knowing that all that matters in his little world is that his Mommy and Daddy are right there with him and that his brother is there to play with from time to time. :)

Blake Grady Jarrett, I love you more than the sun, moon and stars and every day since you came into our world has been the best days of our lives. We love you Blakey Bear! Happy 5th Birthday!

"You say goodbye, and I say hello..."

Hello, hell-OOO HOT-LANTA! Well it's as official as it possibly could be. Last week I officially left behind my job at Target (aka Tarzhay) and the land of kitchsy stuffed Bullseye's and marketing jingles you just can't get out of your head and have landed in the world of orange aprons. After 11 wonderful years at Target Corp and chilly Minnesota winters, we decided it was time to try something new. Today I began my new journey with The Home Depot as a buyer for THD.com in their kitchen world. The decision was difficult to say the least and not made (or upheld) without many a tear shed and some very hard goodbyes. We have so many wonderful friends that have made the last 11 years feel like they have just flown by. Milestones shared by others and memories that we will treasure for a lifetime.

We began our journey last Tuesday and made the trek from Minnesota to Georgia with the boys and Molly in tow. The 2 day trip definitely had it's moments, but we all made it in one piece - not counting frayed nerves. We are currently living in a 2 bedroom apartment courtesy of THD and intend to buy a house in the next month or 2. It will be impossible to replicate the wonderful home we designed and built in Maple Grove, but a house is a house, it's the life you live inside that makes it a home, so we are optimistic that we will find another great neighborhood to begin our life here in Atlanta. Though we will never find cooler neighbors than our WC friends!

We were fortunate that Kurt and US Bank were able to work out an arrangement that enabled him to keep his current position and therefore he didn't have to find a new job...and he managed to get a promotion out of it! He also "started" today and has a very nice office complex in Sandy Springs to work from.

The boys started their new school today and day one went pretty well. Luke had a little trouble with drop-off, but was fine this evening. They are both pretty resilient. After going through a daycare change up/transition last summer I have faith that these boys can handle this change too. They have been troopers through all of this. They were able to see and play with most all of their buddies before we hit the road and made some fun memories. As did we...our friends sure know how to send someone off!

Once we are more settled I'll break out the camera. We miss you all our wonderful Minnesota friends but we know we will see you again...you can't get rid of us that easily!!