5:56

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to the BEST little man around....(in my book)
my dear,
my love,
Gavin Scott Schroeder



So technically at 5:56pm Gavin will be a year old, which gets me all teary eyed thinking about it.
It was been a wild year, with lots of things going on in our lives, but for the most part it has been wonderful. My dearest, sweet child has grown into "a little man" as I've always called him, and continues to touch our hearts everyday. I cannot believe that it's been a year, sometimes I think that it was a month or two ago.. because my memory is SO clear about that day. And the weather today, humid and cloudy, is exactly the same! Gavin really doesn't understand that it's his birthday today, but he is a happy boy!
We, I really mean he, woke up today at 6??? WHAT? and was so happy! GREAT way to start this blessed day! He ate a good breakfast and then there was a knock at the door. A delivery just for him! Grandma B sent over some balloons! He was pretty excited about them and hit them the whole time he ate his lunch.
He's now taking a nap and I will admit that I've gone in twice to look at my peaceful baby sleeping, just like when he was born. In the meantime I've been chopping up onions (crying from the onions), green & red peppers and chicken & steak for his birthday party we're having tomorrow.. which I'm pretty sure the weather might put a damper on! It will be full of great food: Kabobs, Great gran's amazing potato salad, Great gran's asian/onion salad, fruit, veggies, dirt cake, some jello salad,my mom enjoys making, puppy chow, tuna sald (YUM), Shari's amazing sugar cookies and to top it all off DQ cake... After the party we plan on celebrating during the night while Gavin goes to spend his first overnight away from his crib at Grandmas (this I must mention, is HER idea!).. I've very excited for tomorrow and I hope Gavin is too.
ahhhh he's getting so big, i just love him SO much and want to kiss his beautiful lips all the time!

i'm not sure what to title this

These last few weekends have been completely full AND fun! With the mudruns, birthday parties, showers, nights out drinking... now I'm ready for a calm weekend, well sort of. As soon as I think we have a free weekend I take a look at my phone and calendar on the fridge and am quickly reminded of something we have planned. At least all of the things we have planned this weekend are just during the day so I plan on getting a good nights rest :)

Our landscaping is going SO well! the backyard is looking great! We did so much work on Sunday and tonight, and it's looking better than we expected! Now we just need to work on the front of the house. To the right of our front steps there are 15, and I'm not exaggerating, hostas. Now, I think they are beautiful plants but they are all cluttered into a small section.. so Thursday night we are digging them up ANNND replanting them along the sidewalk. To go along with the landscaping my garden is blooming and I pulled out a radish that was delicious! And with Gavin's birthday party coming up I am more than excited that these projects are getting done.

Random: I need to do something with my hair. It is just blllllah. I'm loving the length, but it needs SOMETHING. And this color, it's nasty! It's never been this light since I was platinum blonde in 2006, which is my profile picture on facebook because it makes me laugh every time I see it. And some people have commented on it being "cute" but I ask myself if their comment is sincere since I myself don't think it looks that great. That's it! I'm going back to dark!

a day in the life

I would of never guessed the summer of 2010 would be so wonderful so fast. I cannot believe how busy it already has been, but how fabulous it is to spend the summer at home with my little man. We just got Gavin a little kiddy pool which I will admit, I do hang out in sometimes ;) He is all about being in the pool and soaking up the sun. He also REALLY enjoys digging in the garden and getting really messy! WHAT A DOLL!

busy busy!

hello summer!
an amazing weekend. enough said!
now that the end of may is approaching this family is going to be SUPER busy! i thought last year's summer was packed full, no at all. i realize that summer is busy for everyone but for some reason i feel like mine is quite a bit crazier than most, well not all of course, but a few that i know!
this weekend we have quite a bit going on. friday night i am pleased to say i will be heavily drinking with my grandma :) and mom. my grandma just moved (to an apartment across the hall from her previous one) so she needs a night out.. and my mom, well she has two margs and she's HAMMERED, and i do mean hammered, so my gran said i should come with to keep up with her- she likes to drink! then saturday we're going to the zoo with the ballantyne family :) should be interesting, but it's supposed to be a gorgeous day out. then we have a graduation party and a late housewarming party to go to... urgh! i told dan we really have to do fun things with gavin as much as possible now since in june and july i have TWO weekends when somethings not going on and don't even get me started on august! and sunday i plan on spending the day outside, with my love FINISHING the backyard- where the grass is growing a sweet sweet green and i couldn't be happier! my garden is growing as well!!!
with five weddings, bachelorette parties, showers, birthday parties...ahhhem including gavin's first birthday :), a garage sale at schroeders, mud run weekends, holidays, watching cassidy and amara and other random events this summer is going to be busy busy busy! BRING IT ON! i'm ready, well almost. good thing i do get to stay at home with my love or i fear that i wouldn't see him as much as i'd like. ps- he took his first few steps today, and i will empathise few! it was fabulous!

my early and emotional mothers day

i wish my baby boy could talk to me and understand everything i said to him..
goodnight sweetheart:



oh my dearest gavin,
lately you have been in so much pain with those teeth that just want to take their sweet sweet time to pop through. - i wish i could take that pain away from you, but i must admit- i love the cuddling time we share.
you have just developed a cold (thursday night) that has you coughing, sneezing and dripping nasty snot from your nose. -nothing has helped you sleep at night, and i must admit it gavin, i was very tired when you thought it was play time, but it was wonderful to see you so happy at such a late hour. and thank you for going back to sleep at 3 am, and sleeping in till 8!
did you enjoy those chickens out at the farm? -you tried to put your hands in the wire fence but one quickly pecked you and you laughed. i hope it didn't hurt!

you have spent a total of five hours in the car in the last two days. - i apologize many times over and over again and tomorrow we will only spend 45 minutes in the car, i promise!
daddy has been very busy helping jeremy with his derby truck and working on his bronco for the mud runs, which means he hasn't spent much time with you. - he WILL be spending a lot of time with you this week!
going along with the mud run talk... is it okay that you go with daddy for a little while? -please humor him for a bit. he wants to show you off to his redneck friends. and i promise he will be very careful, or mommy will get after him. if you do get scared, you just scream... i'll come and get you.
gavin, my dear, your toys have taken over our entire (small) living room. - can we please move them into your (small) room? or put some in storage, would you mind? i'm sure there will be some more after your birthday party in june.. ahhh :)
who do you love more? - you don't need to answer that, i know the answer is mommy ;) most days!
do you want a sibling? - mommy and daddy think no for now, is that okay with you? we want you all to ourselves for a little while longer.
do you think granny is funny when she makes that popping noise? -i don't!
jeremy is still commenting on your lack of hair :) -it's okay with me if you don't have hair, i too was a bald baby for awhile!
your love for fruit is making me oh so happy. -i too share that love, that's something we have in common.
i know bella licks you, a lot, and sometimes she licks your lips, GROSS.. -i promise if you push her away she will stop, your giggling doesn't help the situation my love. and eating her dog food isn't a good idea either.
sticking your head in the spindles at grandma and grandpa's isn't a good idea. - the butter and soap won't feel good on your head when we have to pull it out.
we have a very busy summer this summer ahead of us.. -it means a lot of spending time away from mommy and daddy, but we will make up for it by numerous trips to fun places.


do you understand what i say? -you know when to smile when i say things to you, and you don't like it when i yell at bella (or daddy), so do you hear me when i say i love you countless times over and over again. or do you hear me whisper to you before i go to bed and say i love you? do you say it back? my little wonderful, daddy is in such a hurry to have you grow up... but i want you to stay young for awhile longer and love your mommy. i know the days when you talk back, yell, disobey and stay out late will eventually come, but as for now there hasn't been a moment i haven't utterly enjoyed. spending everyday with you has it's ups and downs, but being there to see you roll over, first crawl, stand up and say "da da" has been well worth it. gavin, i am blessed to have you! you are the most important thing in my life and i cherish you more than anything. i love you, and i will love you forever.

"there's one thing he didn't understand; he didn't understand how much a mother could love her son"

is it summer yet?

i need some sunshine!

this weekend is one to remember. we were busy busy busy all weekend long.

friday night was wonderful. dan and i were both asleep by 10 pm, which was fine with me since i had a busy week with the girls. saturday we woke and layed around for a little while, then started on the projects!

we started with clearing all the wood/leaves off of my garden area. wow, that was a task. dan decided that since it was going to be my garden i should do most of the work. well let me tell you, those leaves were wet and extremely heavy. and my upper back is still sore! after we did all of that work dan got our neighbors tiller and tilled it all up, that was also a chore. saturday night we had a small bonfire with katy & blair, andy & emily, glendon & trisha... it was nice to stay at home and go straight to bed.

on sunday dan finished all of the retaining wall around the hot tub/back patio area and it looks amazing. dan did such a wonderful job and we both couldn't be more pleased about the outcome. tomorrow we will finish laying the landscaping fabric and plant our shrubs, annnd dig up more rock from the side of the house so we can mulch and plant more shrubs and flowers. also, sunday night we planted all of the veggies in the garden. i really hope that they all grow so i can have some delicious veggies this summer.
this week also marks the first week of dan working on his beloved mud trucks... the mud runs are may 28-31.. which will be an eventful weekend. it's so redneck that i can only handle one night. the last few weeks dan and andy have been working on glendons house, until 10 pm? i doubt it... but now theres another project where i won't see my husband on the week days. i've made him promise that he will stay home two nights this week so that i can.... go horse back riding!!!! my mom is house sitting at sue and jims and that means that i can pretend to live on a farm! i love it! i think katy and i are going to bring blaise out there one day this week so he can ride the little pony, precious. plus, we've moved lilly (my horse) out there so now when my mom's house sitting we can ride! i haven't been riding for almost two years and sometimes i forget about little lilly being a part of my family... she's so beautiful and getting so big!

this is my beautiful lilly!

and this is her friend & pony, precious!

3rd engagement...

OKAY, ANNOUNCING TO EVERYONE!!!!!!

i am SO pleased to announce....
ASHLEY NOBLE IS ENGAGED!! ashley and joel have been together since she was a sophomore in high school, now that's a long time! and finally, finally they are engaged! i met ashley at aveda in 2005, and we've remained great friends ever since. she was a personal attendant in my wedding and have shared so many great memories together. she's already busy planning her dream wedding.
CONGRATULATIONS ASHLEY AND JOEL!