Preschool Mess

Makenna is in a little neighborhood preschool group that meets once a week. Today was our turn to host preschool, and after having some free play time which the kids spent playing upstairs in Makenna's room, this is what I found:

They had piled EVERYTHING in Makenna's room (toys, books, stuffed animals, puzzles, ride-on toys, baskets, dress up clothes, etc, etc.) onto her little toddler bed Her empty bookcase took us about 30 mins. to refill!

Beyond the House

Although 85% of our time spent in Omaha, was spent house hunting, we did have a little bit of time for some fun with my family. One night my dad "put on" his buffalo rug, and chased the kids around. I thought maybe Hudson would be scared, but both he and Makenna loved it! Hudson also got to go fishing for the first time. The lake was still partly frozen, so they didn't catch anything, but he enjoyed helping John. Hopefully this summer he will be able to catch his first fish. We also got a chance to play with a few cousins. Hudson LOVED this cousin in particular. As soon as she walked in, he was quite taken with her, and followed her around. She didn't seem to mind the attention, and was great to play with Hudson. My sister Amanda and her family also came from Utah to visit, and Makenna loved having Kate as a playmate during the trip.

Our First House!!

John and I spent spring break this year house hunting in Omaha, NE. After almost 7 years of marriage, I can't believe that we are FINALLY going to own our own home!! I am beyond excited. I feel so lucky to be going back "home" and to have the chance for Makenna and Hudson to grow up close to some of their aunts, uncles, cousins, and one set of grandparents.

Our house hunting experience was fun, exciting, a bit tiring, and at times a little stressful (but I think just for me...John seemed to be fine). My dad was our realtor (how lucky am I), and my mom was our babysitter extraordinaire. I really could not have asked for a better house hunting situation. After looking at about 40 houses in 3 days, we quickly narrowed our search down to our top 3 and then top 2. Deciding between the top 2 houses proved to be quite difficult, and we went back and forth all weekend, before making our final decision on Sunday night, and putting an offer in on Monday morning.

I am SO excited about our house. It is still in the process of being built, so after the offer was accepted on Monday evening, we were able to spend Tuesday picking out all of our 'finishes' (granite, carpet, tile, light fixtures, etc). It is a 2 story house, with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and an unfinished basement (a project for a few years down the road).

Here is a picture of the outside of our house (it is not painted yet). We will be closing the end of May, so hopefully it will look a lot different by then :)

These other pictures are taken from the model of our home.

We LOVE the spiral staircase in the entryway.

The Kitchen
One of my favorite parts of the kitchen: the hidden walk-in pantry (on the left) and the built-in desk.

Looking from kitchen past eating area, towards the family room.

90th Birthday

Our trip to Wisconsin for John's Grandma's 90th Birthday was a quick one, but we had a great time visiting with family, and helping to celebrate such a special birthday. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and spent much of the rest of the day at the farm.

We visited with John's Grandma, Uncle Bob (who I was meeting for the first time) and his friend Michelle.

We also took a ride down the lane in the Gator, and took a little walk through the snowy trees. The kids really liked riding on the Gator, even though it was pretty cold.

On Saturday after our trip to the Dairy, we spent the rest of our time at an Open House Birthday Luncheon for John's Grandma. It was so nice to see all of the love and support that she has in this small community. John's Grandma is quite an amazing woman. She is still living by herself on the farm thanks to some great neighbors who watch over her, and some caretakers who make visits. We really enjoyed being able to be a part of her special celebration.

John's Grandma and her sister
4 generations of Pawlowskis

Makenna with Michelle and Grandma CeCe
John and his Grandma

Family photo with the Birthday girl

Wisconsin Dairy

While we were in Wisconsin over the weekend for John's Grandma's 90th Birthday (post to come), we made our must-stop trip to the Ruldolph, WI Dairy to pick up some "Squeaky Cheese". I have only had squeaky cheese 3 times in my life, all of them since I married John and we started making visits to Wisconsin. I must admit that while I do enjoy a piece or two of squeaky cheese, I am certainly not as passionate about this unique cheese as others (maybe you have to be born/raised in Wisconsin to truly appreciate it), but I do thoroughly enjoy our trips to the dairy. We didn't have too much time to stay at the Dairy, but we all enjoyed watching the cheese being made.

Of course we picked up several bags of the fresh squeaky cheese, but we also picked up some ice cream at the attached "Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream" shop, which was SO delicious!! While I was trying to prevent myself from licking my cup, I noticed the following paragraph on the back of the cup, and thought it was quite clever and funny:

Nutritional Information:

Don't even ask. This is the best ice cream made in Wisconsin, and it tastes so good because it has gobs of rich Wisconsin cream, tons of real ingredients for boat-loads of luscious flavors. That means it's not low-fat, low-calorie or low-anything, and that's why everyone loves it. You want nutrition, eat carrots.

John's Valentine's Gift

Makenna had picked out a card and a box of chocolates for John about a week and a half ago, and desperately wanted to keep them in her room until Valentine's Day. I agreed, and gave her a bag to "hide" them in. Well, Makenna decided to add to John's gift, and kept putting random things into his bag. First thing yesterday morning, Makenna grabbed the bag and wanted John to open it right away. It was pretty hilarious watching him open it.

Some of the best items were: old homework papers of John's, a bill still in the envelope which she decorated with stickers, a baby doll, a bag of Hudson's blocks, a toothbrush (used), a Cinderella dress with no doll, and one of Makenna's birthday cards from her 3rd birthday.

She has since taken most of the items with the bag back up to her room, and has started adding more things, which she says are for John's Birthday...which isn't till April.

Sick Day Projects

Well, unfortunately for us, the fun family nights did not continue much after my last post. In fact, they came to a screeching halt the very next morning, when we woke up to find that Hudson had thrown up sometime during the night. Luckily, he seemed to be feeling fine within a few hours. John was the next to get hit on Monday morning, and then my turn with the stomach flu came Monday night. Makenna was the last of us to catch the bug, and she definitely had it the worst. While the rest of us had the standard 24 hour bug, Makenna was sick for a full 7 days! I didn't even know that the stomach flu could last 7 days. The poor thing was miserable. After almost 10 days of being stuck in our house, we were ready to get out. But as luck would have it, we got hit with a big ice storm that trapped us inside for another few days.

One benefit of being stuck inside for 2 weeks straight was the extra time I had to work on projects. I FINALLY finished Makenna's Christmas stocking (it was only 3 years in the making) and have started working on Hudson's. (I'll post pictures once his is done.) I also decided that I needed another Valentine's decoration since I only had ONE (which is pretty pathetic...I know). I decided to make the wreath found here. When I ran to the store, they only had red and white felt (no pinks), and it definitely took a lot longer to make all of the roses than she made it sound, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, and it was a fun, easy project.

It didn't "scream" Valentine's Day to me, so I added a little heart, but I can't decide if I like it or not...what do you think? (It's removable)