Before and Afters! (Finally!)

This first picture is just an example of how badly our house needed siding! (For those who think we just had an extra $15,000 sitting there ready to pay for sidding. LOL)

Before...this was literally taken the day before they started tearing the house apart.

after...we need some house numbers!

before...

after....this one shows the great need for shutters!

before...

after...

before...

after...

before...

after...

Now when I'm at the park with friends and they ask which house is mine I can say "The green one!" instead of... "well...it kinda looks like the others..it's the 3rd one in if count starting with the blue one...etc.."

Kaden's 3rd Birthday

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of Kaden's 3rd birthday. We had his party 2 days early- on Sunday the 10th- and were able to invite some of his friends that we met last year at the park. When I asked him what he wanted for his party he said only two things: pizza and a Thomas cake.

At age 3 they already know how to pick the more difficult things. That's ok, tho. I was able to precook some crusts (even personal size for the 3 kids old enough to care) and get all the ingredients prepared the day before (after spending the whole day at craft day!) and so putting the pizzas together was a breeze.

I baked the cake in a round cake pan, 11 cupcakes, and a small round pan. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with it.. I was just glad I had talked Kaden out of his 3D Thomas idea. I convinced him it would be MUCH more fun ot have a toy on his cake to play with later. Luke jumped in on the fun too-which made decorating fun to. (Usually it's fun, but more stressful. Luke is more into detail so he helped with getting the frosting spread just right!)


I ended up experimenting a lot with this cake and was totally and completely pleased with how it turned out. I really outdid myself, and I'm wondering what he's going to expect in coming years??? Also, i just have to say- I didn't have to run to the store-or have Luke run to the store once in the whole process. THAT is a real accomplishment for me! (WHAT? I was prepared? SO WEIRD.)


He had such a fun time. First we ate pizza outside with his friends. Then they played in the pool for a long time-with his big slide into it. Then they played in the sandbox...then we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. He was truly spoiled. He got so much Thomas and Cars toys... he couldnt have been happier!

So here starts the tradition I plan to follow for birthdays. Pick your meal, pick your cake, pick your friend. It seemed to go over very well!

Also. he wants everyone to know that since he is THREE now, he no longer wears bibs. I think I'm just as happy to be done with them. At his 3 year check he was back down in the "normal" percentiles for other 3 year olds. High, but normal. At 36lbs 8oz he was at 89th percent of average. And at 39 inches tall he is at 83rd percent average.

Snakes and Worms

The other day Kaden got to go outside and play in the rain. When it's rained for 5 straight days and the forcast calls for at least 5 more we just go play in the rain. He found that our pond out back had filled with some water and proceeded to take his extra big dumptruck, some scoops of various sizes, a bucket and various other toys he happened to find in the garage and played happily for quite some time. However, this IS my Kaden-boy, and that means he cannot do anything without inviting me to join him at least every 5 minutes. (At LEAST.)

He had been coming up the deck and opening the slider and inviting baby (Katelyn) out. "Baby, do you wanna come play with me?" Baby would get all excited and mommy would have to break her heart. Eventually he realized he could tease her. That's when mommy locked the slider door. OH MY. I honestly didn't know if he was going to forgive me, but eventually he made his way back to his pond.

And figured out he could still come invite me by going through the backdoor of the garage and coming in through the garage door. About the 25th time he did this I decided enough is enough. I headed down to have a little talk with the boy. Right as I got to the door he said "LOOK MOM!" It was a worm. Now I'm not scared of worms, snakes, or anything else like that....but it startled me. I mean this thing was huge. And I just wasn't expecting it! I gasped and that was it.

Kaden saw my reaction, dropped the worm, and backed back out into the garage absolutely SHRIEKING! He was hysterical. I finally calmed him down (by calling Daddy to have daddy reassure him that it was ok)...and that he had just startled momma-no big deal. That's when he whimpered, "Mom, I was holding a snake, I think." I asked him why he thought that...he replied that "A snake startles mommy." I don't know how he got that but somehow that's what he thought. I told him it wasn't a snake and asked if he knew what it was. He happily replied that it was a WORM.

It took him a while to convince himself. I tried to get him to pick it up to put back outside (by this time, Kate was VERY willing to pick it up.) He would get *this* close, then startle and jump back. He finally did and was proud to show mommy his worm.

Kate is ONE!

For the next 2 1/2 months now I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old.

I was welcomed into this "Mom of a one and two year old" phase of my life by Kaden peeing all over the bathroom floor (accident?? I think so.) on the morning of Kate's birthday. Awesome.

Speaking of Kate's birthday. It was a fun party! We had it the day after her birthday so my parents could be here with us. We had a few other people over and had brats (the meat-we didn't eat the kids), polish dogs, hot dogs, potato, pasta and green salads, lemonade, and chips. Of course, it snowed.

I didn't get a lot of pictures, but managed to get a good one (or 2) of the cake. I was proud of it! Just cupcakes made to look like flowers. Then I made a little spot of mud where I wrote Happy Birthday Kate. For months I had looked at cake ideas and didn't like anything I saw...finally found just a picture of this one and knew it was perfect for Katelyn. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to frost and put together, but it was totally worth it!


She truly enjoyed every lick of frosting and can now be considered a frosting-aholic. SHe KNOWS what frosting is now!



She got lots of cool toys too! Ironically-everyone got her Melissa and Doug brand. Kitchen toys and sandbox toys. Kaden is pretty sure it was all for him.

A little bit of ♥

The last time I posted I remember it was a sick day...it's been a while, and yet, not much has changed! Fevers seem to be the theme of this year so far, but we're glad that so far, they don't seem to be signaling anything too horrible. Kaden's the last one to have a fever, and today seems to be doing MUCH better. Kate's fever seemed to be a result of teething-although-we still have no teeth to show for it. At this rate she's gonna be a hairless, toothless, one year old soon. Poor girl. *edit* I think this picture is how she's felt lately...with her teething, etc...



We celebrated Valentine's day a bit early in the Antonich world. Tradition is for me to make heart pizzas and have candlelit dinner as a family. Kaden loved his mini heart pizza and the "fires". I think Luke did too. He brought home some roses-which are STILL sitting beautifully on the table a week later. Kate got to have mac 'n cheese...she seemed thrilled until she realized she didn't have pizza on her tray. I'd post a picture but my camera has disspeared. Very frustrating. VERY.




*edited* The pictures are now uploaded. I'm thanking the camera elves for bringing it back to me so soon! Here are my other two Valentines! I'm a lucky girl!!!

Every year I just can't wait til next Valentine's Day!

Sick Day!

Katelyn started running a fever yesterday, then in the middle of the night threw up a little bit. This morning I thought she was doing better, but her fever spiked again around 9:30am. SO, here we are, down in our basement with netflix running and as comfy as possible! Kaden's loving the mom time and Katelyn is loving the movies! (Truth be told, Kaden's loving the movies just as much!) I did run out and get starbucks to help me through the day, and ran one errand. Other than that I'm just going to love on my kids and do my best to not have a TO-DO list today. Here's a picture of Kate-it's not the greatest because it's from my phone.

To bad I didn't realize we needed more baby advil. SIGH. Maybe I'll run out when Luke's home for lunch. I swear the Advil cuts the fever WAY better than Tylenol-but we're using both to keep on top of it.

Time goes on and on and on...

My babies are growing up. In some ways, it's exciting. In others, I'm a typical mom-trying to hold on to my babies forever. ♥

Today we lowered the mattress on Katelyn's crib. She was able to pull herself up-and we feared over- the side rail. This means I can no longer just lean over and kiss her sleeping cheek. I will miss that until she's in a real bed someday.

Today also marks the first day she was completely unwilling to eat baby food. For the past couple days we can squeeze in a bite or 2 here and there. Today-lunch to be exact- had to be table food. NO baby food. She had 2 helpings of peas, a helping of pears, some cottage cheese and ham. She didn't do too well with the ham, but not TOO bad either. I'm trying to remember what I fed Kaden at this age! Lots of veggies, crackers, noodles, and such.

On a similar note, she is VERY into Kaden's sippy. If it is in the room then that is ALL she wants. So, today, we gave her her very own sippy cup. She was thrilled.

As for Kaden, we got him his new booster car seat last night. It's the kind that just repostions the seat belt to fit him better. He tried it out by going to Home Depot with Daddy this morning. I don't think he even noticed it was different. I had to go put him back in it in his pajamas to get this pic. He thought it was weird, and didn't cooperate very well!

As for Luke and I, there is no development to report. Probably more like getting older and falling apart kind of stuff. But I'll spare you!

Meet: My Family. The People You Never Knew You Needed to Know

I'm sitting here thoroughly enjoying the kids' naptime. I don't really have a lot to say, but it just seemed appropriate to blog while the kids were down! So, I think I'll post some pictures to inspire me!

Picture #1
These are my amazing Grandparents. They "adopted" our family the same time I was born and have loved on us ever since. In some ways they are the "realest" grandparents I've known! I just love them. They celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June and that was what I was making the scrapbook for. We had a surprise party for them on December 26th and it was a complete hit. AND every family member (all 28 of us) was able to be there for the special party. At the end we gave them money to buy some recliners and we could tell it had meant a lot to them. Its memories I'll never 0forget.

Picture #2
This is My immediate family with Grandma and Gramps...my how we've grown. Wish I had an old pic for comparison. But I am just to lazy to ever scan in pictures!

Picture #3
This is my Grandparents with their real family...kids and grandkids. There's a lot of them too...it's fun to look back and pictures of their girls with us as babies, then of us with their kids as babies, and now their kids with my babies...

Picture #4
Meet my twin brother Brandon. Yes. My twin. But older by 5 minutes. I show you his picture first because I want you to notice how we look the least alike of anyone in my family. We are as different as Kaden and Katelyn are different. I like having a twin now. I didn't think much of it growing up. Would I want to have twins? Never. Anyway, for all you single ladies reading-he is 26 and single. Great catch if you ask me...just sayin'!

Picture #5
Meet my brother Jeremy. (He's the one ON the rocking horse.)He's the middle child. He's also the one I blame Kaden on! A talker and debate-master. A pro at both, really. It was fun to see how much Kaden is like him (and how much he will deny that) while we were together at Christmas. Jeremy tries to live in Never Never Land and never wants to grow up (if you couldn't tell by the picture), His wife Allison is good for him.

Picture #6
Meet Andrew. He's my 2nd to oldest brother. He was too busy playing with my kids to get a picture of just him. Andrew's the dare-devil, fearless one. He says I'm just a worry wort. I think he's crazy. I guess we're even. Also a great catch....

Picture #7
And finally...Meet Aaron. He's my oldest brother. (Yes...4 if you counted right...all older.) He's the engineer. The level head. The thinker of the family. He has some pretty cute little boys too... This is a self portrait. Let's just say he's better at scenery. Also, yes, that is me in the background. Blerg.

Picture #8
I guess I shouldn't leave off my parents. So here they are...my mom and dad. They are pretty cool grandparents and adore all 4 grandchildren. Mom cooks up a storm whenever we're all home and I feel bad that she works so hard. Dad's usually found in his garage or with his stereo sytsem with one of "the boys." (they hate when I call them that.) THey keep saying they are going to retire...but I'll believe it when I see it.

Water Bottle

Rachel and I decided to make a trip to Rapid City while she was here...mostly for the good eatin' but also for some shopping (mostly me!) First store: Gordmans! Where they have this awesome TV area for kids. Rachel, Kaden, and Kate hung out there while I shopped...and finally got myself the promised "when I'm done being pregnant" pajama pants. You can see them in the back of the cart in the picture below. Kaden had decided that he needed to hold Kate and it was too cute to not take a picture! Kate didn't hate it the whole time...just by the time I got a picture of her face...hence the "happy" picture that avoids her upset face.

After Gordmans we realized I had not brought Kaden a sippy cup to use for the day. So, since we were going to Scheels anyway I figured I'd just get him a water bottle like Luke and I have. He's always swiping ours anyway. So I let him pick one. Much to NO ONE's surprise, he picked an orange one, and wanted to hold onto it from then on.

Next we went to lunch downtown to a place called the FireHouse Grill and Brewery- a favorite of Rachel's that she was wanting me to experience (definitely good if you're every in the Rapid City area!) I think she likes it mostly for the beer....mustard.

It was a busy day downtown with some kind of parades and construction all around. We managed to find a parking spot only about a block away and headed in. As we walked Kaden held to his new water bottle proudly. Then he dropped it. And it rolled into the street. No big deal...we'd send him to get it once it rolled to the curb. Except that the curb was a gutter drain...without a metal cover! It rolled right down into the ground about 6 feet down. I COULD SEE THE STUPID $12 water bottle that hadn't even been washed yet, much less used!!!! But I could not reach it.
What to do? I was sick. Would I go back and buy another one? Or would i just go find the cheapest sippy I could find and cut my losses? We got into the Firehouse and ordered and I just could not get that water bottle out of my head. So, I left Rachel with both kids...and headed back to my car to see if there was a clothes hanger I could try to snag it out with. No such luck. So, I looked to see if there was ANYTHING...and much to my surprise I found a tow rope with a nice little (ok, it's big) hook. I walked back to the hotel with a stupid little grin on my face...the thought going through my head was "I sure hope I can get it, and I wonder how dumb I will look...oh no! A car is in front of the drain!"
I didn't let that car stop me. I am sure I looked quite hilarious swining a tow rope down a gutter drain...but after only 2 tries i hooked the bottle and hoisted it up.
Then i walked dumbly with a huge grin on my face into the restaurant...with my huge tow rope and my newly saved water bottle. It was a happy moment.

(Here is a picture of where it rolled down the "drain."

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, I will say that I kept better hold of that bottle. When we got ready to leave we stopped at a convenience store to get some drinks and left Kaden in the car for a minute and when we got back out he was already asleep just like this:

It was a cute ending to a fun day.

Our Okie/Arkie Friends

A couple weeks ago we had some friends here. My friend Rachel from college, her brother Nate (also from Grace), and their dad Bill.

This morning Kaden asked for "Boppa Bill" again. The kid has a memory, and LOVED Boppa Bill. (And Nate and Rach too!)


Nate could get Katelyn to grin and giggle like a pro. She wasn't scared of him at all, which is amazing because most people she doesn't know bring her straight to tears.

Rachel was a hit with both kids! I had so much fun watching them with her. If she left the room Kaden was lost without her. Completely lost. Although, for some reason he couldn't remember to call her Rachel. Instead it was "Lori" or "Terri". We're gonna work on that one for the next time!


Here is the new version of peanut butter pie that I made for them while they were here. I have to make peanut butter pie when I see Bill...it just seems like tradtion by now. This one was utterly amazing.

Mostly Rachel and I and the kids hung out, cooked, ate out, and tried to avoid the butchering process. (Rachel = successful, Bethany = unsuccessful). Luke got an antelope so I did wrap our packages of meat.
In the evenings, when the guys were home, we hung out with them and had some meaningful conversations that were super encouraging.

It was such a fun visit and flew by way too quickly.