Duck, Duck, Goose and Dinner

This winter, no thanks to Duck Dynasty in my opinion, Josh took up a new hobby. You guessed it, duck hunting! And from that right into goose hunting. Naturally, it made more sense to rope someone else in to the fun so Robbie also got hooked and now they consider themselves regular ole waterfowl hunters :) The amount of prep that goes into this is intense. They had to start by learning to use the duck and goose calls to call the birds in. Josh actually practices in the car on the way to work....... which is much better than in the house! Aiden and Isla love to blow on the calls as well. I'm betting that Aiden will be better at calling the birds than Josh or Robbie one day! They have scouted sale ads and craigslist for decoys. They get up at the crack of dawn to go out and set up all the decoys and cover themselves when they lay down on the ground to wait and call the birds in. It's a lot of work! But they're hooked! On Friday, the last day of goose season another of their friends came down to go out with them and see what this is all about. After they hunted we had an impromptu dinner party with everyone. We had lasagna and cupcakes and a good visit with friends! The kids ran and ran and ran and they were exhausted by the time the night was over which means we even got to sleep in a little on Saturday morning! Win!

I didn't get any pictures of the dinner portion but here are some pictures of Josh's hunting adventures over the last couple months

And as Isla says "Daddy FINALLY shot a bird" Her words...not mine :)

Now we have a couple months until Turkey season begins and baby boy is here. His "honey-do" list will be growing! Who am I kidding.... my to-do list is growing too! 

Happy Birthday Isla

My baby girl is 4 years old. Where did 4 years go?! Josh and I were talking just a couple nights ago about time and how you really don't realize how fast it goes until you have kids. It happens so fast and next thing you know we'll be sending her off to college baffled at where the last 18 years went! I have to stop now or I'll start crying uncontrollably. And it's not the pregnancy, that's just a side effect of having kids :) 

On Isla's birthday we decided to take her to a "restaurant" as she says to eat. She loves to eat out but Aiden.....not so much so we rarely go anymore. Remind me to tell you about the last couple of experiences another time and you'll understand why we eat at home 98% of the time! 

Isla's birthday was on a Tuesday so she got to bring Grandma Downing cookies to school as a treat and we had some left over to bring to dance class and share with her friends there! After dance we met Josh at Red Robin and had dinner. She enjoyed dinner, got to play some games, they sang happy birthday and she had some ice cream! 

We always tell Isla not to grow up too fast and she does it anyway! She tells us that she wants to be a big girl and go to big girl school and even ride the bus. Ride the school bus! Look how much she has grown in the last 4 years...

 At the hospital in 2010

 1st birthday party 2011

 2nd birthday party 2012

 3rd birthday party 2013

4th birthday party 2014

Nicolle 

Isla's Birthday Celebration---Part 1

This weekend we had our family birthday party for our birthday princess and she loved it! It was a birthday party full of Sofia the First including a "Birthday Princess" banner. Isla told me I was the best mommy ever for getting all of the decorations so that's a win in my book for sure :) We were happy to have so many family members take the time to celebrate Isla turning 4. It's crazy to believe that so much time has gone bye since we welcomed her into this world. She has brightened our lives and brought us so much joy. She is beautiful, funny, smart and so loving and caring. I couldn't have asked for a better daughter and we cherish every moment with her. The good, the bad and the ugly! Each moment is a moment we learn a little more about her, a little more about ourselves and a little more about parenting. I'm thankful for her every day!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the party and the link to the rest of them is below!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BbuGTlo1Ys3tw

Nicolle 

Christmas Pictures

Here is a link to our Christmas pictures from ALL of our celebrations with ALL of our family! Enjoy!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BbuGTlo1Ys3pg

Nicolle

Back to the grind

Well last week was our first week back to a normal schedule. I did manage to accomplish quite a bit on the never-ending "to-do" list with the help of my sister last Monday. We did get out of the house on Wednesday and met one of Isla's preschool friends who happens to have a brother just a couple months younger than Aiden at a play place called Fun Run. It's basically a bunch of bouncy type things...good to wear the kids out so they'll take good naps! And with everything there was to do, Aiden chose to drag/push around and old beat-up lawn mower and vacuum.

  

I'm trying to keep the TV and Disney Jr from being our main source of entertainment because the kids become rotten TV zombies and it's just not pleasant for anyone! They did get some craft things for Christmas and Isla loves to paint with her new paint. Aiden stays interested for about 5 minutes and then he starts eating whatever craft thing he has : )

Isla refused pictures during craft time!

This past Friday was a big day for me... I turned 30! I'm officially out of my twenties and much wiser now I'm sure! Josh and I enjoyed a kid free dinner at Olive Garden on my actual birthday and then the kids went to my mom's Saturday because we had Josh's company holiday party at Boulevard Brewing Co. I splurged and had some diet coke ;) We had a good time and it was nice to spend some time together before he started back to school this week.

The kids and I went to Aunt Gina's house to spend time with Nannie and Gina and do a little sewing while the kids played. It was nice to have something to do because Josh had class last night so we enjoyed our outing!

Baby "BOY" Downing!

As most everyone knows now, we are expecting a baby boy in May! We didn't find out the gender with either Isla or Aiden and it was such a wonderful surprise but this time we had a little more to consider as the baby and a sibling will need to share rooms while they are young. I felt just as excited as I did on delivery day and now we know how to plan for the arrival of the baby. It's a little different being able to pick out things for the room and know that I can start cleaning out all of our baby girl items that we don't need anymore. Josh is excited because he didn't have a brother growing up and he is anxious to see the dynamic between the boys. We actually both grew up with 2 girls and a boy in our family so this is new territory! We are happy the boys are just two years apart and Isla will stay our little princess :)

We will be doing a baseball themed room for the boys... I know, surprise, surprise right?! We are going to be getting bunk beds for Aiden to switch to around the time he is 2 which is the same time the baby is due. I'm excited to get started on the room now that everyone knows the big secret!

Our handsome boy! On a side note...His sono picture looks very similar to his brother's!

The Holidays are Over

Last weekend we celebrated our last Christmas with Josh's mom and step-dad and once again the kids were spoiled! I even got a little spoiled :) We have really enjoyed all of the time we were able to spend with our family over the holidays and as sad as I am that the month of December is over, I think the kids are in desperate need of a little routine again. Our drive home on Sunday took quite a while because we had to drive in blizzard-like conditions(I may be exaggerating...but not much!). The kids were ecstatic to get out of the car when we got home and they just ran around the house. Not playing with toys, just running!

I'm still working on uploading all of our pictures to an album and I'm hoping to have it posted this week for everyone to see.

This week we are just working on getting things back in order. Which is hard when preschool is cancelled because its 0 degrees outside! Isla does have dance class today so she is pretty excited about seeing her friends. We have play date tomorrow with a friend from Isla's preschool class so I'm excited to get the kids out and about.

We are also working on keeping Miss Isla in bed at night so last night I started a sticker chart for her and every morning, if she stayed in bed that night, she gets to put a sticker on the chart. Once she gets 5 stickers in a row, she gets a surprise(to be determined)! She has been so bad about getting out of bed multiple times before she falls asleep and we have scolded her and talked to her etc. And the first night I switch it up and offer a "surprise", she stays in bed. I wish I would have thought to do that a while ago ; )

I hope everyone is staying warm!

Nicolle