Update!

Well, it is almost Thanksgiving and not much has been going on with us.

The kids are growing really fast, too fast, and learning new things every day.

Naomi is walking and running around everywhere! She has learned a few new words: yeah, dog, love you, Spongebob Squarepants. She is, for the most part, a happy little girl. She has no fear, like her brother. She will climb up on Bro's little chair and climb onto the couch, over the arm of the couch. A couple times she's fallen, but she gets right back up and climbs again!

Brodie's doing great. Still not potty trained. Though, last night he said he was ready to be potty trained. Not sure if he's serious. He usually does not want to have any part of wearing manties (man panties hah) and pooping/peeing in the toilet. So, we'll see.

For some reason this site won't let me upload pictures on here. If you have a facebook, I try to upload pictures of the kids on there frequently.

Halloween was fun! We went out to the Legend's for their Halloween festivities, kids got a little bit of candy there. We were late due to kids napping, so we weren't there for very long. Halloween evening though, we went to Tuyen & Scott's and went around their neighborhood. The kids got A LOT of candy! We still have some. haha :)Brodie dressed as Wolverine, his costume from last year, and Naomi was Snow White! They both were super cute, of course.

We all caught the flu at the beginning of the month. That was not fun. Being sick yourself and taking care of sick kids, sucks! haha We were both throwing up, kids were throwing up, yuck. It was a mess. But, we're all better. Bro and Nomi still have a cough, but that's all it is. Nothing more.

We're pretty excited to see everyone at Thanksgiving! I keep telling Brodie and he gets so excited! :)

My sister is about to have her baby, the kids' first first cousin! We're all also really excited about that! Her due date is tomorrow, so we'll see! :)

Besides the sickness we had, we are all doing great. I'm working from home now (since September) and it's awesome! I get to sleep in a little later and I'm actually taking my breaks (to go do housework, etc).

Can't wait to see everyone next week!

Sorry haven't updated in awhile...

Sorry!!

So much has gone on! Naomi is now 1 and she had a wonderful birthday! She was able to celebrate twice and eat TWO cakes! :) She's also walking ALL OVER the place! She's been walking for awhile though, before her 1st birthday that's for sure!

Brodie is talking A LOT more now!! He says so much!

Both kids are doing great and in great health!

Ben and I are also doing great and in good health!

I start working from home on Monday! The kids will stay in daycare as I will not be able to do my job and take care of the kids all together. I'm still doing what I was doing before, just at home. I'm really excited! :) Need to set up my home office area though.

I'll post pictures later on, don't quite have the time at the moment.

Love you all! Post later...

Kids updates...

Since the last update, Naomi has been baptized! She was baptized on July 10th, 2011. It was a really nice service too! Also, there were no blowouts this time!!

She did fall asleep during the service, after being baptized though. :) We really like the Pastor who did both the kids' baptisms. Such a nice guy! If we ever renew our vows we're going to have to do it in Ellsworth so the same Pastor can do it :)

The service was great, Naomi did wonderful! The Pastor did say that when he was putting the water over her head and blessing her, a calm came over her! And every time he was saying her name she would look right at him! :)

Brodie was good. He didn't stand up there with us. He wanted to stay in the pews and play. Eventually Auntie Eden took him out of church and down to the play area. He was being a bit rambunctious. haha

After service we went over to Great-Grandpa & Grandma Gwinner's house for lunch. There were sandwiches, fruit, cake... Family and friends came! It was nicely decorated too! It was very humid out so we were all pretty hot, but other than that it was very nice afternoon!

Brodie had a great time playing with the kids and running around. And Naomi was held most of the time. :)

It was a great weekend. Before heading there, the kids were already there from the previous weekend. But when we got home, we were all so glad to be back home. We asked Bro if he was glad to be back and he goes "yes!" haha

I don't want to leave our kids for a week again!! :) No more of that for a long time, that's for sure!

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In less than a month our little baby girl will be a ONE YEAR OLD TODDLER!! She won't be a baby any more. It's so crazy, this year has really just flown by! Seems to have gone by a lot faster than Brodie's first year.

I still haven't decided on a theme for her birthday party. I don't want something obviously girly, like a princess party or something like that. We're still throwing around ideas ;)

She's also walking A LOT more now! She's still 70% crawling, but she's getting around pretty well on just two legs! I'm sure by the time she turns 1 she'll be nothing but walking (or running)! :)

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Brodie's doing fantastic. Growing and learning more every day. Ben fixed him up with an old iPhone. It's more like an iPod Touch than iPhone though. But he loves it and it's loaded with all his favorite games so he can just sit and play it instead of trying to get our phones or the iPad. :) haha

He's definitely going to be a little computer nerd like his daddy! And Naomi sometimes is interested in the technologies too, but Brodie usually takes whatever she's looking at away... haha

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Both kids are doing really well, they're both healthy and happy. No issues here!!

I hope to get the place where we'll have Naomi's birthday party reserved and let you all know when/where/etc. :) We are shooting for August 13th though, it's a Saturday! :)

Check up!

The kids had their check ups this morning. Brodie had his 2 year and Naomi had her (what was supposed to be 9 month) 10 month.

Both kids are doing great, both are healthy and happy! They're growing like weeds, that's for sure!

He was impressed with Naomi trying to walk to keep up with her big brother :) And impressed that Brodie can draw a face--head with eyes, nose, and mouth; and that he can draw a sun! :) He said that they usually ask kids around 3 years if they can even draw a circle so him being able to do all that is very advanced. :) Then he asked who between Ben and I were the artist...Me, of course ;) I was very artistic when I was younger & now sometimes too, when I have time that is. :)

Brodie's stats:
35 3/4" tall--75th percentile
34 1/2 #--92nd percentile

Naomi's stats:
29 1/4" tall--80th percentile
22 #--80th percentile
18" head circumference--90th percentile

They were kinda concerned about Brodie's weight, but said its not too big of a concern because he doesn't look like he's overweight or anything. He's just a dense kid. He is very active. It's nothing to worry about, he's just a growing boy! :)

But both kids are doing extremely well and growing big and strong! I can't wait for Naomi to be walking only. That's going to be really fun times! :)

They're happy and healthy kids. :)

So many updates!

We have been so busy I haven't had a chance to update since we had our family pictures taken!

Ben and I went on vacation to Vegas for a week, so the kids spent a week in Ellsworth with Nana & Grandpa and got to spend time with all the family back in Ellsworth & Salina.

Our vacation was great! It was very nice to reconnect with each other and not be Mommy & Daddy but be Husband & Wife :) But, we did miss our babies SO much!

We were SO SO excited to see them the weekend we were picking them up. I was getting so anxious when we'd get closer and closer to Salina & Ellsworth.

The kids had a great time, but when we finally got back home I'm sure they were glad to be back! The first few nights and days weren't very good. haha, they were off routine and Brodie thought that it was his way or no way. We had to tell him several times that he cannot have his way. By the end of last week both kids were FINALLY getting back on schedule.

So everything is pretty much back to normal. :) Which is very nice.
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This past weekend was Father's Day!! We did exactly what Ben wanted to do, which was return a couple things at Wal-Mart and then go grocery shopping.

Sunday evening I made our dinner--pasta with sausage, green beans, garlic bread, and salad with avocados and green peppers. YUM! :) It's what Ben wanted so he got it!

His Father's Day gift was a new set of kitchen knives, Ginsu! They cut SO well too! He is a fan of his gift :)
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The kids will be spending another week with Nana & Grandpa the beginning of July. The daycare will be closed, as she's going on vacation. So I'm sure everyone back there will enjoy seeing them again.

Then that second weekend in July Naomi is going to be baptized! :)
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Speaking of Naomi, she is ALMOST walking! She will take a few steps then plop right down on the floor. She's trying at least! She also has six teeth now! We feed her table foods now, no more baby food! She's also getting so big!

We're going to be taking the kids to the doctor sometime this week, as we've been waiting for a time we weren't going to be busy and when I had some PTO so we both could take off work to take both kids to the doctor.
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Last night was the first night we put Brodie & Naomi in the same room at bedtime. And, it worked out great! There was a couple times I heard Naomi whining, but she was able to go back to sleep and it didn't bother Brodie much. I think I heard him whine a couple times but not enough to wake up and come banging on his door. So this may be a new trend that sticks! If so, we have our bedroom back! :) haha

Hopefully though after they get back from being at the grandparent's for a week they're able to go right back on routine and sleep in the same room and not wake each other up.
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That may be the current updates so far. The kids are doing great, we're doing great. No one's sick or hurt. :)

Life is grand. :)

Gallery of our family pictures!

Not sure if you'll need to enter the password or not...

Link: http://carrieevans.smugmug.com/Portraits/gwinner2/17207523_jhqw8d#1305452641_CzsCfvF

password: may

They are all SO amazing! I love them all!! Now the hard part, deciding which ones we're going to get!! :)

Hope you enjoy!!

Wow, May is almost over!

So much has happened & will happen! Naomi is now 9 months old! She'll be 1 before we know it! :)

She's standing by herself, she uses us/couch to walk. She takes just a couple steps with one of us holding her hands until she just stops and plops down! :)

She's eating mostly table food that we eat--mac & cheese, beans/rice, mashed potatoes, eggs. Mostly things she can eat. We still give her SOME baby food, but usually when our meals consist of things that we can't feed her yet.

She's getting TWO more teeth! On either side of her two front teeth. She's having a little trouble with them, giving her a little pain. Not too much because she's still very smiley most of the time ;)

Her hair has gotten so much longer! There's a little spot on top of her head where the hair is just long enough to clip a hair barrette to it! haha She's not too impressed when I do that, lol

She says mama, dada, baba... She tries to clap. But instead of using both hands, she slaps her leg. haha. It's cute. She loves when someone's clapping though. She LOVES one of the books Brodie got for his birthday, a Marvel one. Has Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, Spidergirl... All those super heroes in it, and the pages give you pictures that you point out. She LOVES it though! She'll go to it all the time and open the book and just jabber at the pages! It's so cute! :)

She absolutely loves Brodie. Watches him, wants to play with him. He loves her too. He's tried to feed her. He kisses her, hugs her, pats her on the head, plays with her. It's very cute.

Yesterday we went and had our family pictures done (which the few I saw look totally amazing and I cannot wait to share!) and on the way back, both kids were in the backseat just talking to each other. Brodie was cracking Naomi up! It was hilarious!! And SO cute!! Best friends they are :)

Of course they do go off and do their own things too, but when they play with one another, it's amazing. Really fills your heart with joy.

Speaking of Brodie, he's doing just great. He's learning a lot! He tries to count to ten, but can't quite say some of the numbers--same with his ABC's. He knows how it goes and can say most letters but there are still some that he can't quite say.

He has a favorite song. Ben burned me the new Britney Spears album so on my way to work after dropping the kids off I listen to it--gets me pumped for the day. So it's playing when I pick the kids up from daycare and on our way home. He loves the song "Big Fat Bass" with Will.I.Am. Loves it. He asks for it. He'll point to the back speakers and say "bass! bass!" So of course we have to give in and let him listen to his song!! :) lol It's cute. He also sings a long to the beginning.

He also loves our iPad. It's his. He is on that thing way more than I'm even on it. I don't even fight him over it, it's not worth it. It entertains him and it's teaching him. He knows exactly what apps he likes, how to play the games, how to choose his shows on Netflix and the other kids show app thing we have on there.

He's going to be a little techie-kid like his daddy was :)

In 11 days the kids will be in Ellsworth & Salina while Ben and I go on vacation to Vegas. Everyone's very excited. The kids don't really know what's up yet, and I really hope they do well without us for awhile. We'll be back in Ellsworth/Salina the 10th-12th, right in time for the River Festival! I cannot wait to take them there! I loved going as a kid, and now I get to take them. :) I am pretty excited about it :)

Anyway, we are all well and doing great and in good health! Can't wait to see family & friends in a couple weeks!!

<3

Pictures from 5/8/11

As you can see by Naomi's face, she had some chocolate on Sunday. Brodie was very sweet and shared his chocolate chip cookie with her. And she ate that sucker up like there was no tomorrow!! haha, she also got it everywhere... :)

Pictures from 5/7/11

From the City Market






From the comic-book shop


From the mall


Out and about & at home

Mother's Day weekend

This past weekend was dedicated all to me :) It was such a nice weekend too. Ben didn't have to work and for the most part, the kids were very good!

Saturday morning we went to the City Market, the bigger farmer's market in KCMO. We got quite a bit of fresh produce and spices. I did get some amazing raspberry jalapeno dip, too! There were quite a bit of people there, but it was beautiful out and we were happy to be outside.

After lunch Saturday, we went to the mall to do some shopping. The family got me a couple dresses and a top for our vacation to Vegas (in about three weeks!!!). :)

We also participated in 'Free Comic-Book Day' on Saturday! Got Brodie (and Ben) some comics for their collections.

Sunday, on actual Mother's Day, it was again so beautiful outside! I went in the kids' room where Ben was too and was greeted with two lovely cards. :)

Sunday afternoon we went shopping again. We were going to go to the zoo yesterday, but Ben's knee was hurting him so I didn't want to him to be hurt more by walking around the zoo.

We got a few snacks and Naomi some shoes/tights. Nothing too special bought on Sunday :) It was just a really nice day that we spent together.

It was a really great weekend. We hope everyone else had a great Mother's Day weekend too! :)

Party/Weekend highlights

Brodie's birthday party

Saturday we celebrated Brodie's 2nd birthday and it was a blast! :)

We had it at one of the parks up here, it was a little chilly but we all survived ;) The kids had a bunch of fun, running around going crazy.

So many family and friends came to help us celebrate. Brodie is one lucky boy to be surrounded by so many loved ones :)

He also got SO many great gifts! Clothes, toys, crayons & coloring books just to name a few. He even got a tent and a pool!

Since Easter was also on Sunday, Brodie got even more gifts and LOTS of candy! Do we have some candy... haha! :)

It was a great time, a really great time. If his party was any indication on how this next year will be, WOW it's going to be awesome! :)

Check out some pictures from the party and weekend... (in the next post)

Naomi pictures!! :)

Naomi is 8 months & other updates...

Yesterday Naomi reached the 8 month mark. She seriously is growing up way way too fast! :)

She has become such a little ham, it is so funny! She laughs at the dog, at Brodie, at us! The other day we went to Tuyen & Scott's house and Brodie was barking at their dog Beamer. Naomi thought that was the funniest thing--she was just laughing away at him! :)

She also has the cutest smile, ever. She has her little dimples, and then she crinkles her nose and shows off her teeth!

She loves her stuffed animals. The Yoda we got Brodie last year for Easter is now her friend. We put him in her crib with her and in the mornings she'll just be talking to him, just going on with stories. In the crib/play pen downstairs is her Moishe (Where the Wild Things Are doll) and her Minnie Mouse, and she will just play with them and tell them stories too!

She also loves to eat paper, pull Brodie's hair, and be held at daycare. Which is crazy because at home we don't sit there and hold her. We don't want either of the kids to be those kids who have to be held all the time. But at daycare she likes to be held. Maybe because of all the other kids??

I can't believe she'll be ONE in four months! Need to start thinking of ideas for her sweet little first birthday party! :)

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On to other news... Brodie's birthday is NEXT WEEK!!! AH, our little boy will be TWO!!! And his SUPER HERO birthday party is next weekend!! I'm SO excited for his party! I know he'll have a lot of fun.

Yesterday I ordered his super hero cape, got the boy party favors made (super hero masks), rounded up the 'happy birthday' sign, and today I need to run to Hobby Lobby to get some more stuff for the girl party favors (onomatopoeia hair clips). Then I have to make some more decorations for the party itself. Lots of work, but it'll be worth it in the end!! :)

Can't wait to see some of you at Brodie's birthday party!!

She's growing up too fast!!

Naomi is now pulling herself up on things: the couch, her crib/play yard. She gets SO excited when she pulls herself up. We also all clap for her and cheer her on, Bro included :)

We've also started giving her some table foods. We've given her potatoes, banana, strawberries. She's also had those Gerber puffs--loves those. She still drinks formula too.

She's still just crawling around everywhere! Where ever Brodie is, she crawls there. She always wants to see what he's doing. :)

Her sweet little personality is really showing lately. She loves to observe people and things. She's such a sweet little girl.

Brodie's first accident...

Today Brodie had his first accident where he started bleeding!

I was going to pick the kids up at daycare. I came inside and Brodie was excited to see me, like usual, and started running around. Well, sometimes he'll run to the back of the room where there's a door leading to the backyard. Well, he ran to it and hit it hard!

He started crying and I thought maybe he just hit his mouth or nose. I ran over to console him and there it was, BLOOD. It was just gushing out! My poor baby boy was bleeding!! :(

He cut his bottom lip from running into the door. It looked so bad! But I held him and tried to stop the bleeding.

After a few minutes he was ok and we quickly left so we could get him home. But, by the time we got him to the car and back home he was back to his old, stubborn self! :)

He now has a fat bottom lip, but he's ok. It's not holding him back from being crazy and rambunctious. hah :)

You're invited!!

Kids' photo shoot

Here are the pictures we chose from Brodie & Naomi's photoshoot :)