mommy love.

this was my first mother's day as a mother of two...a special day. lots to celebrate when you have two beautiful children to love! for mother's day, i made kyri and i matching skirts, which made her quite giddy...matching her mama. i now know that skirts are the easiest thing to sew! i already had all of the fabric so they were cheap too. i loved the black and white fabric. simple and cute. i also made kyri a clip to match. everything was without a single pattern. risky, yes. i have really enjoyed all of the sewing i have been doing and coming up with new creations. it's a new love! we did a little photo shoot outside to show off our cute outfits. kaden and kev just happened to have similar button-up shirts...looking pretty handsome for mommy. i have to say i have a pretty cute family. no wonder i take so many pictures everyday!

kevin and kyri made dinner together on mommy's special day. i gave them basic instructions and got them started. they did all of the work. they made lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. everything was scrumptious! it may take kev a little longer...but he really can cook. kyri had so much fun making dinner with daddy. she has her mother's love for being in the kitchen. my family did a wonderful job, making my day very special. kevin got me beautiful earrings and a new shirt. kyri picked out orange gerbera daisies (my fave) and a toy story mother's day card...it played music too! love all the little ways they said, "we cherish you."

my precious babies. kyri and kaden. without them, i would not be able to experience the greatest joy...being a mother. everyday is new and exciting, filled with lots of drama, unknowns, and laughter. kyri warms my heart. i love the way she always speaks her mind. she has such a sweet, loving spirit and is always thinking of others. my most favorite is when she climbs up on my lap and asks me to tickle her back. in that moment, she is still. i can smell her hair and hold her close. i cherish every second with my girl. kaden has opened my eyes to a whole new world...having a boy. he challenges me everyday, pushing the limits just a little bit further. he is just full of energy. all day. exploring the world is what he does best. my favorite is when all kaden wants is mama. right now, i am all that he needs...that never ceases to amaze me. i love having a son. i love that i am now able to experience the joys of having both a son and a daughter. i now feel complete. my life is beautiful.

tiny chef.

making lasagna with daddy.

bubbly, cheesy goodness.

pretty proud to be her mama.

matchy-matchy.

love this cute clip.

hello there, little lady!

handsome, and yet oh so adorable.

just asking to be kissed!

can't imagine my life without this little man.

love, sweet love.

kev's brother, andy, who is stationed in afghanistan...sent me a dozen beautifully delicious chocolate-covered strawberries for mother's day. what a sweet surprise! i won't tell you how many of them i ate...

9 months.

time sure does fly when you're having fun! our little man is 9 months old and lovin' life. kaden is still our little peanut...15% in height and weight. he is 18 pounds, 7 ounces of ALL BOY! crawling, climbing, and crazy. i love watching him explore the world with his beautiful blue eyes and tiny hands. my whole life has changed now that he is mobile. no more leaving him on a blanket to play with toys. he just wants to go, go, go! having a boy is so different than having a girl. kaden has such an adventurous spirit. his hands are always moving, feeling everything in his reach. kyri has to keep all of her toys in her room...if there is something tiny on the floor, he will find it. gotta love the "oral stage" of life...everything goes in the mouth!

when it comes to eating, kaden is a monster! that boy will eat about anything i give to him. by the time you are done putting the food on his tray, it's already gone. i'm still making all of his baby food, which i have really enjoyed doing. it's cheaper and i feel so much better about feeding him home-made baby food. now that he can feed himself, i'm giving him finger foods too. his favorite snack is the classic...cheerios. he can't get enough! it scare me when he shoves fist fulls in his mouth. so boy. he can now do the sign for "all done" and waves "bye-bye" too. melts me. i tried giving kaden yogurt, twice, and both times he threw it up. makes me sad. he might have a dairy allergy so his doctor told me to wait until he is a year old to try again. i've actually cut dairy out of my diet, in hopes that it will help his tummy. it's possible that he will just outgrow it as he gets older. what's life without cheese and ice cream!

our little kaden is such a happy boy, full of smiles. he loves to giggle at mommy and daddy. what really gets him going is playing hide-and-seek with kyri! when he finds her, he gets that belly laugh that is just too much to handle! oh man. sometimes i can't even stand his cuteness. kaden rarely fusses during the day, except at night time when he's done for the day. he is still taking a morning and an afternoon nap. by 7:30, he is ready for ni-night. he sleeps for a good 12 hours every night. i don't really like it when people say "oh, you're so lucky!" it isn't luck. it wasn't easy to get to this place...it was a hard couple of months, but baby wise is worth every second! it's all about routine. it works wonderful for us and wonderful for our kids. they are both great sleepers. that makes for a happy mommy and daddy!

we just love our precious kids. they are both so spontaneous! kaden sure has brought a new perspective on life for our family of four. he keeps us on our toes. it's a new adventure everyday with our crazy boy!

look out world, here i come!

crazy boy.

fuzz head.

look at me, daddy! i'm so big!

searching for his pears.

found one.

thanks for lunch, mama!

so gentle.

little guys...kaden and matthias.

does that elephant ear taste yummy?

yep, it does.

arms of love.

six plus one makes seven.

may 3...kev and i celebrate our 7 year anniversary. we had so much to celebrate too! this past year has been the most difficult and yet the most rewarding year of marriage for the two of us. we have grown closer than ever before, falling more madly in love. i can now say that all of the challenges we faced, were worth every tear and all the pain to get us to where we are today.

the day before our anniversary last year, we were hit with something that would challenge our relationship as husband and wife. personal and painful. God was gracious to us and brought just the right people to help us in the healing process. i can remember crying and praying in my car, asking God to restore our relationship. i felt so broken. God reminded me of his promises everyday. it was during that time that i felt so comforted by him. it was a rough few months. there is still healing taking place today, but God has been faithful through every step of this journey. kevin is the man i am so honored to be married to and i have promised to love him for the rest of my life.

last summer, kevin went to his brother d.j.'s wedding in omaha and his family could just tell that something wasn't right. for the past 4 years, kevin has slowly been putting on weight. he just thought it was from not exercising or being active. at night, he would fall asleep on the couch by 9:00, feeling tired all the time. his skin was becoming even more pale and he was also losing the hair on his legs, arms, and head. he thought the baldness was just hereditary. he didn't really know what was causing everything else. if someone puts on 25 pounds in one year, you would notice. for kevin, everything was so gradual and we weren't really concerned. once his eyes started to become really puffy and his ankles were swelling, we knew that there was something going on his body that wasn't quite right. on patti's side of the family, kevin's mom, there is a history of hyper and hypothyroidism. patti insisted that kevin get his thyroid checked. i made the appointment right away! sure enough...his thyroid was basically completely inactive, not producing any hormones. he isn't sure how long this has been going on for him, but from pictures we can see that the physical effects started right around when kyri was born. now looking back, it makes me feel like such a horrible wife. how could i not notice? i look at my husband everyday...i'm so sorry, babe.

the doctor immediately started kevin on thyroid medication. he will have to take a tiny pill, everyday for the rest of his life. we started to see results within weeks! it was so weird to see the hair on his arms and legs get longer and longer! the hair on his head came back thick and when its long, it's got a little curl to it. i love it! his skin color is healthy. his energy is back to normal and he is just full of life! 9 months since starting the medication, kevin has lost 28 pounds. crazy! he can't remember the last time he was this tiny. i can clearly remember the day that he walked through the door and i just stared at him...my kevin was back! i still can't get over this drastic change. i am praising Jesus for my husband's health.

may 2009.

may 2010. amazing.

it was only a few weeks after kevin was diagnosed that we welcomed a tiny new love into our loves...kaden michael. kevin and i shared an amazing birthing experience together with our son's birth, which brought us even closer together. he was my rock, every step of the way. we discovered a new love for each other and immediately felt like our family was complete. becoming a family of four has truly been amazing. kevin and i have been filled with so much joy from our two most beautiful children. kyri and kaden are just a delight! kaden is such a happy, loving baby. he is ALL boy. kyri is full of life and makes us smile everyday. goofy with a heart of gold. love her! kevin and i are truly blessed and couldn't ask for anything more in this life we share together.

daddy, mommy, and kaden...minutes old.

we have spent this past year, rediscovering our purpose as husband and wife. we really do complete one another, in so many ways. i have loved this journey of life that we share. every moment, every memory. priceless. we have had our challenges and we have had times of celebration. i'm so thankful to have a man in my life to admire and to love. kevin is BEYOND what i could ask for in a husband. he tells me i'm beautiful...everyday. and i know he means it. his love for me is simple, it's unconditional. he loves me even in my ugliness. he encourages me in all that i do. he's my biggest fan! his confidence and trust in the Lord assures me that his heart is right where it should be. kevin really is the best dad. the BEST! he cares for his children more than i could have ever imagined. kyri lights up when her daddy walks in the room. she adores him. kaden just loves to cuddle his daddy. kev gives them all of the love and affection that they need. everyday he does bathtime with them. he reads them stories. he stays at home with them so that mommy can go grocery shopping...alone. he cleans up after dinner, everynight. how lucky am i? i do know. really i do. kevin love...you light up my life. i can't imagine one second of my life without you. thank you for giving me kyri and kaden, my tiny loves. i'm a better mother because of you. thank you for loving me. happy i've loved you for seven years anniversary! i promise to love and cherish you for many more.

forever.

kyri wanted to be in the picture too...precious girl.

the anniversay cake. my first fondant attempt...kev loved the vanilla goodness.

it tasted pretty yummy too. just for you, babe!

disneyland...day three.

day three...what a day! on our last day, we made our way to disney's california adventure. brian and lauri had never been there so we were so excited to explore the park with them! today was a much colder day, pretty windy and overcast. right when we got there, we headed straight for toy story mania! jessie was standing right outside and kyri couldn't wait to meet her! priceless. toy story manie wasn't open right away so we went on california screamin' instead...twice! a perfect way to start our day. that roller coaster is so sweet...so smooth and so fast! we just walked right on. i love going on roller coasters with my man. we were finally able to go on toy story mania and that ride is just awesome! it's the newest ride at the park and if you haven't been on it, you're missin' out. 3-D and you get to shoot stuff. what could be cooler? kyri was able to go on sourin' over california, which she absolutely loved! even though i've been on the ride so many times, it is so amazing every time. disneyland sure knows what their doing!

we spent a lot of time in bug's land, going on every ride. everything there is so cute, with all the bugs! we didn't have to wait in any lines, all day. it made me happy that we were able to take kaden on so many rides with us. he just chilled, sucked his thumb, and soaked it all in. such a good baby boy. kyri and gabriel loved california adventure because there was so much for them to explore! so precious to watch them, creating little memories. we were sad to miss the playhouse disney live show, we just didn't make it in time. we did get to see the pixar play parade, the coolest parade! we love all of the pixar movies. i'm so glad they have a parade with all of the pixar characters! before we left the park, i convinced myself to go on tower of terror with kev and brian. i'm not a huge fan of rides that drop straight down, but i've gone on every ride at disneyland so i just had to do it! it was actually pretty sweet...now i want to go on it again because i've heard it's never the same experience.

before we left the park for the day, we had to get ice cream. kyri was asking for an ice cream cone the entire trip and we did promise her one. even though it was chilly out, she enjoyed every bite! the park closed early so we decided to have dinner in downtown disney. we ate a yummy mexican food place...you can never have enough mexican food! we spent a while walking around, checking out the shops. we let kyri pick out one toy at the GIANT disney store. she picked a peter pan play set, a perfect choice. brian and lauri stayed in the disney's grand california hotel, which we had to walk through everyday to get to our hotel. we spent some time there on our last night, reminiscing about the past three days. it really was a vacation to remember forever. we shared so many wonderful memories with our dear friends, the ernst family, that we will cherish forever. i'm so thankful we were able to go with them! our walk back to the hotel was bittersweet. we couldn't stop smiling from all the fun we had, but we were not ready to go home the next day. we could have stayed at disneyland one more week! our drive home went pretty smooth. we stopped for lunch and for ice cream...yes, our family likes ice cream. we were soon back in lincoln. as happy as were were to be in our cozy home, we were all ready to go back to our favorite vacation spot...DISNEYLAND!

tiny mickey.

it was a cold and windy day.

hiding from daddy.

simple love.

kyri and gabriel went on this carousel at least 3 times!

surf's up!

a bug's land...such a cool place!

riding in a cookie box.

ladybug boogie.

caterpillar train.

loved that kaden boy could go on so many of the rides with us.

bumper bugs!

kyri and gabriel checkin' out mater.

pilot minnie was so adorable...especially with kyri girl.

kaden wasn't so into his mickey ears.

buddies.

this picture captures this trip for these two...every moment was precious.

kaden's two loves...his mama and his thumb.

perfect family of four.

love this boy.

so thankful for my wonderful friend, lauri.

kyri finally got her much-awaited ice cream cone.

the pixar play parade...just an awesome parade!

dude, it's crush!

good ol' hooter hider...don't know what i'd do without it.

could they be any more adorable together?

the ernst family...friends to cherish forever.

kyri and garrett.

the pirate is protecting his girl.

cuddling on our last night in the hotel.

kyir LOVED having a giant bed all to herself!

happy boy...so thankful we brought the booster chair.

silly kids.

matching disneyland tees.

ready for the long drive home...but not ready to leave such a magical place. this was the best vacation ever and we can't wait to come back!