Laundry Basket Train

I made Riley a cardboard train for his 2nd birthday party! That thing took so long to make and then forever to paint, but it was so worth it, because the kids loved it, plus it made for some really cute pictures.

My grandma gave it to a local preschool after the party, so it didn't come back home with us.

Today me and Riley were looking at pictures from his party, and when he seen this one, he got so excited, he wanted to play in the train. He asked me to "make it again mommy". Haha, umm, no.

He was pretty persistent, so I thought I'd make a plain pretend train out of things I had around the house. Two laundry baskets, an empty box and his bilibo. I didn't know if he'd go for it, but he loved it!

I added some stuffed animals as friends in the other train cars. He played in it all afternoon, and he is actually relaxing, watching some cartoons in it right now. Look how happy he is. :)

♥ Kim

He's Home :)

When Riley got home Saturday morning, he ran upstairs and woke me up, giving me hugs and kisses. That is the best way ever to be woken up. He sat on top on me, and smiled at me, and then hugged me, and then smiled at me and then hugged me over and over again. And every now and then he'd throw in a kiss, and once he kissed me bunches, all over my face.

We had lotsa fun that day after Mitch went to bed. He begged me to play with dot markers. He calls them dot dots. He loves loves loves them!! So I decided to print out a bunch of shapes for him, that I found after doing a quick Pinterest search, and he got to use all 6 colors, for the 6 shapes we did.

After that he still wanted to color with them, so I gave him a coloring book, and let him dot away! 

We also got our art caddy out and used crayons, colored pencils and markers to make some new art for his art wall. I have a lot of filler tot school activities up there, but we are slowly replacing it with "Riley's Art" and then we can go back to using our giant magnet board to display the tot school stuff.

Here you can see his art wall in the playroom. He loves having somewhere to hang his masterpieces after he finishes them. I have a project planned to cover up the nails holding up the yarn. Give the art display more of a finished look!! I'll share it whenever I get around to doing it. :)

To end the day, we went outside and played for a while. Trying to get Riley to hold still for pictures is nearly impossible. I did finally get him to give me his big fake cheesy smile. Cracks me up every time!! He is such a goofball.

He has such a great imagination. He is always coming up with new games. In the picture below, he is throwing rocks up in the air, then watching them fall back down. He entertained himself for quite a while doing this. It is such a simple thing, but it is so amazing to watch him explore the world around him, all on his own. :)

We also had some fun getting Chumba all riled up!! Riley loves his doggy bunches. Sometimes I think he misses Chumba more than he misses mommy and daddy, haha. The two of them fight like brothers, and even though Chumba is a dog, they "tell" on each other too. Cracks me up, and drives me nuts!!!

Mitch has had the last couple of days off, so we have been having fun with him. Yesterday we went to the lake, and went out on a friends boat all day. It was Riley's first time on a boat, and he was scared, I had to hold him the whole time. But we still managed to have fun, and he loosened up a bit by the end of the day.

We also played baseball in our front yard, Riley does pretty good at hitting the ball, although I felt bad for him, when I was pitching, I got him in the face a few times, ha!! Luckily they are wiffle balls, so it doesn't hurt. We ended the day with some music and frisbee golf on the PS3, where I totally beat Mitch, and Riley laughed at us while we danced around and sang along with Garth Brooks at the top of  our lungs. We were pretty hilarious!!

♥ Kim

Missing Riley

I miss Riley. He's been in California for the past week with his grandparents (Mitch's parents). I've gotten lots done while he's been gone, computer wise anyways. I cleaned out my inbox, it was super super SUPER full. And now it's nice and empty. It's amazing how much calmer I feel now that I did that.

I also gave my blog a makeover! New header, new background, new labels on my sidebar, new domain (no more blogspot.com) new favicon, and even a new about me picture!! I still want to add a menu bar up top, but that will have to wait for now.

The house is picked up, and I went grocery shopping. Meals are planned for the next 2 weeks. I'm not a huge fan of cooking, so having everything bought and planned out really makes the whole dinnertime process go much more smoothly. I don't have to stress about trying to find a recipe that I have all the ingredients for everyday. So nice.

Riley comes home tomorrow morning!! I can't wait to see my little guy, and give him a great big hug. Did I mention I've missed him?

And since I can't post without sharing a picture, here is one of my favorites of Riley.

Jumping on his mini trampoline in his playroom. He's such a happy little boy. :)

♥ Kim

Our First Night!

We spent ALL day moving, in the rain and snow! Fuuuuuun times!

No TV, phone or internet until Monday. But I found an unsecured wireless network to tap into until mine comes! YEAH! One of my new neighbors ROCKS!!!

Anyways, just wanted to let all my bloggy readers know where I've been. Gotta go clean the icky icky fridge that's been in storage forever! Yuck!

p.s. Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post. I will get around to responding, once things settle down a bit! :o)

Updates

Life happens whether you want it to or not!

I've had a bit of both lately.

First we will get the bad news outta the way. I had another miscarriage. I am OK. I was 5 weeks along, and had just found out I was pregnant a week before I lost the baby. Although I "knew" for a couple of weeks.

It was not as hard as my fist miscarriage that happened at 12 weeks. But it is FAR more frustrating.

My doctor wanted me to come in a talk about possible testing. But I am moving {that's the good news I'll get to in a minute} and will be switching doctors. So I told him I wanted to try one more time before I go down that road.

He says that is fine, as long as I think I can emotionally handle the possibility of another miscarriage.

So we try again!

**********

OK, onto the good news that I did want to happen!!!

We are moving! Yep yep yeppers! We have been waiting for months {ever since Mitch got his job in Sparks} to move to the Reno, Sparks area.

Right now Mitch commutes an hour to work each day. Yeah S.U.C.K.Y.

So, I looked at tons of rentals online, and found a few we liked, but only ONE we really liked and really could afford!

We went a couple weeks ago and looked at the place in person. And we REALLY liked it even more! So we put in an application and waited.

And waited. And waited. Then we had to call them, and ask if we were approved. We were! Someone was supposed to call us and tell us, but they forgot.

We went yesterday, and paid our deposits, and signed the lease. Yay yay yay!!! We move in on February 9th. We are both soooooo happy to be moving out of our townhouse.


And into our new {unattached and bigger} house!


This is the picture from the listing, once we move in I will take more pictures, of course! It is a 1550 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom house. The backyard is much bigger for our little Chummers. And the person who lived there before left a nice swing set. Dylan will LOVE that when he visits!

So if I'm not around much for the next few weeks, it's because I am cleaning and packing, and moving in!!!

I LOVE you Mitcheal Young!!!

Dear Mitcheal,

Yesterday was our "we've been dating 8 years" anniversary. And I wanted to tell you how much I ♥ you.

You know the way you *always* make me smile no matter how furiously angry I am with you.. I HATE it when your doing it, but I love that you're the only one who can.

I ♥ your sweet smile, and your pretty greenish blue eyes that look at me with more love and adoration than I ever thought possible {I really love being sooooo adored.}

Thank you for our first dance as husband and wife, even it it was 3 months late and at the Main Event Bar on Christmas night with Mommy and Josh... it wouldn't be us if it wasn't a little different than *normal*..... I LOVED THAT NIGHT!!! It was perfect! ;o)


I love that you don't care one little bit what other people think, you are completely you!

Thank you for letting me be completely me too! Even when you think I'm totally insane! I love you so much for trying to make all my dreams come true! You are amazing!!!!!


You are going to be the worlds best Daddy! It is amazing to look back through the years and see how much you have changed... I love that I got to be there to witness all those changes, they were all for the better.

You have grown up a lot from that 19 year old boy that stole my heart.

I love that I am your first love.

Thank you for becoming a grown up with me! And for being so willing to grow old with me too! We both know you'll be taking care of me and my broken old lady body years form now! Hahaha!


Thank you for saying "I Do" and becoming my husband!

You make me SOOOOOO happy Mitch!

I am so glad I am the lucky girl that gets to spend the rest of my life with you!

I love you

Twenty-Six

On December 17th I turned 26! Twenty-Six!!! Where is the time going? Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my birthday fun with all my bloggy friends!

I decided to wear my birthday girl crown.... even though it totally embarrassed Mitch {heheee}. I wore it allllll day long!


So of course I had to wear fun shoes and purse to match!

Shoes...


Purse...


It was really cold that day, the temperature went below 10 degrees. Brrrrr, check out the frozen water that got left in the car!


Mitch drove the whole day {that never happens, ever} so I was stoked to be a chauffeured around all day long! Every time we go on long car rides, and I have my camera handy I take "mirror" pictures of me! Some are cute, some are goofy or serious. Here is my birthday mirror pic.


We went bowling first! I won the first game!!! Mitch tried very hard....


But I tried harder! Hehehehe! Yeah, this is me after I scored a spare. I got a bunch in a row!


Check out the scoreboard!


I totally lost the second game :o( We decided to leave after two games, because they put these really serious {super good} bowlers next to us, and it's hard to have goofy bowling fun right next to super serious bowlers.

We had fun though!!! I drank 2 Malibu Pineapples. Yummy! Then we were off to Applebees for dinner!

We started the meal with an appetizer, the artichoke spinach dip! Mmmmmmm! I LOVE that stuff! And I decided to try the Caramel Appletinis. Yummy!!!! They tasted just like a caramel apple! I will definitely order these again in the future!


Then for dinner I had the shrimp topped steak. And Mitch had some sort of chicken burger.

I've gone to Applebee's several years now for my birthday, {I love having my birthday there!} So I knew what was coming next! The Applebee's waitresses all come out with dessert, singing the Happy Clappy Birthday Song. They let me pick my dessert this year. I knew it was coming, but I was still embarrassed! Mitch took a picture of me and my dessert while they were singing.


Last stop of the night was the Daytona Casino. I wanted to go there because, I don't know anyone here locally besides Mitch of course. But since we go to the Daytona so much, I've become friendly with the employees there. So it was the closest to seeing friends on my birthday that I could get.

When I walked in, one of the guys asked if there was a beauty pageant going on {because of my birthday crown, hehe} So I corrected him and told him it was my birthday!!! And then I told him all about my night, including how embarrassed I was when Applebees sung happy birthday to me.

Well, he proceeded to tell me that they might sing happy birthday too, but that they had an intercom. Seriously???

In the meantime, we played $20, and I got free drinks. Here Mitch decided to order me Hypnotic on ice. As we were playing, Mitch said that he noticed them blowing up balloons, he thought they were for me. Nah!!!

Boy was I wrong, about 15 minutes later, I hear "Attention Daytona guests, we want to wish a very Happy Birthday to one of our special guests Kimberly Robinson!" {yeah I still haven't legally changed my name} I turn around, and Ryan and the other guy were standing behind me with balloons attached to a little present, it was a battery operated personal fan. He said they decided not to embarrass me more by singing to me.


How sweet of them! Seriously, I wasn't expecting anything, but they made me feel special.... without embarrassing me too much.


We played for a bit longer. I didn't win anything, what's up with that??? But it was getting late, and Mitch had to work the next day, so I had promised to get him home early! Just a quick trip to the bathroom before we left.... hehehe, I had to take a semi drunk self portrait in the bathroom mirror.


Chumba was very happy when we got home! He gave me birthday lovins, too cute!!!


Then it was bedtime! For Mitch anyways! Good night babers, thanks for a very happy birthday! I love you!!!


The End!

It's been a long long time...

I've been so so so very busy! I have so much stuff to share, and I'll do it in several posts {so I won't overwhelm myself}

I had my 26th birthday... I took lotsa pictures, it was fun, just me and Mitch.

There are projects I wanna share {and now that Christmas is over, I can!}

My completed Christmas cards, they turned out super duper cute!

And of course pictures of our trip to California, and of Christmas itself! I might be a bit slow about it... we just got home last night, and I have to clean the house and take down the dead Christmas tree and decorations. But I am soooooo happy to be back home!

I've missed all my bloggy friends very much! And just spent 3 hours catching up on all the blogs I read. Shhhhhh, don't tell Mitch! :o)

Coupons, bills and a funny little drawing

Not much new to share today. I had a funky weekend while Mitch was gone fishing with his parents. I was very tired, and mostly slept and played on my computer. So much for lots of creative goodness getting done while he was away.

I was a good girl tonight, I clipped all my Sunday coupons, and paid all my bills, it is so sad to watch my checking account get lower and lower with each check I write, but it makes me feel good too to know things are caught up. :)

With this short post I decided to share a framed cartoon drawing of me and Mitch, you might find it amusing!
Seriously, when did my chin get that huge? Mitch laughed so hard when the guy handed us our finished drawing, I wasn't so amused. But, I have grown to love the thing, and have it hanging in our living room.
Hope you all are sleeping well tonight! Talk to you soon!

I'm Mrs. Kimberly Young now!!!

On Saturday August 16th, me and Mitch finally tied the knot!!! I am so happy! It was a pretty small wedding with only about 20 guests. But they all did their best to make my day as special as possible!

You've all seen my dress from a previous post. And before I get to the wedding pictures, I want to share some other little details that helped make my wedding beautiful!!! My little nephew Dylan was my ring bearer, and I made the ring pillow myself.I also made my bouquet, but forgot to take bouquet only pictures... oops! But you will see it in my other pictures. Mitch never tossed my garter, but I wore it the whole day, I made it too! My very first one, it doubled as my something blue! My shoes were my something old, I have had them for a few years, Andrea bought them for me when I fell in love with them while looking for wedding shoes (back when I planned on having white shoes, I was sad these didn't come in white, but the black worked out perfect!)

And my veil. Which was one of the many new things I wore.

The only thing I didn't have was something borrowed, my mother-in-law was supposed to give me Mitch's grandmothers hankerchief, but during all the commotion before the wedding we all forget. Oh well. The wedding took place at the Truckee River Walk in Reno, NV.

The only regret I have is that I didn't get more pictures after the ceremony, anywhere besides the gazebo we were married in.

With the pretty fountain and staircase and stuff I could have gotten some really pretty pictures, but there was so much craziness right afterward, and some drama too (that I won't get into). Me and Mitch couldn't afford the professional picture package, and didn't know you had to order it before the ceremony. My sister Sami tried her hardest afterward to get them to take our pictures, knowing how much it would mean to me. Her, my Grandma and my mom were going to pitch in and buy them for us (they are so sweet) but unfortunately it didn't work out.

Anyways, I'm gonna stop talking about that incident now, because, even though I kept a smile on the whole day, today (2 days later) I'm on the verge of tears over the incident. So instead I'll share a few of the cute pictures I did get, I don't have them all yet, I am waiting on my Aunt Diane, and Connie (mother-in-law) to send me the pictures they got! This is us during the ceremony.

Mitch was laughing or on the verge of laughing throughout the entire ceremony. Which made me want to laugh. And of course I knew why, I can totally read his expressions, and, well, it was cute! I love him! My nephew Dylan was our ring bearer, he also walked me down the aisle. Isn't he adorable?I told him before the ceremony that there wasn't a traditional aisle, and that he was just walking me to Uncle Mitch. Which he totally didn't approve of, he said it was his job to walk me down the "aisle" LOL. So the whole time we were walking up, he kept asking "Kimmy, is this the aisle, is this the aisle?" It was so cute.

Once we got to Mitch, he stood right next to us where he was supposed to be and was quiet and still the entire time. He was such a good boy, and we never even had a rehearsal or anything. I am so proud of him. Here is a picture of me getting our rings from him.

And me putting the ring on Mitch's finger (I'm still waiting for the one of Mitch putting the ring on my finger, Aunt Diane got one).

When she said "Mitcheal, you may now kiss your beautiful bride" Mitch who had teased me for days about how I wasn't getting a real kiss, nut rather a peck, or a kiss on the cheek, said "on the cheek?" out loud. It was funny. And followed by a perfect kiss!

Here we are husband and wife!!!I am so happy. I have more of my wedding story and pictures to share, including the BBQ reception the was thrown "for us" by my Aunt Diane. Which was so sweet of her. But I will save that for another post. My new husband should be home from his first day of work at his new job soon, and I want to get a few things done before he does.

My Wedding Dress

I'm getting married on August 16th. Just 11 days away. We planned a big wedding forever, with a fancy dress and lotsa pretty decorations. But.... after years of being engaged and something always postponing our wedding, we decided to keep our most recent August wedding date, and just have a small Reno wedding on the Truckee River Walk, with just immediate family.

So this is the dress I am going to wear. It is a BCBG MaxAzria. Originally $280, and I got it for $84 at Dillard's!I will wear a shoulder length ivory veil with it, my favorite pair of black shoes and carry a beautiful bouquet of fuchsia flowers. I am making paper flowers, and I must admit that I love the way they are turning out. And I love that they will last forever.

I will post pictures of everything after the wedding, and possibly a few more before (if I have time). It isn't our original dream, but all of our favorite people will be there, and we will be saving money, which we will definitely be needing now that we have a baby on the way. I am so happy!

Craving Veggies

Believe me, I am quite aware of just how spoiled I am. And to the spoilers Mitch and Dad, I say thank you very much! I get dinner, not just cooked for me, but brought up to my studio, on a plate already salted and peppered just the way I like almost every night. And it is always very yummy! Just take a look at tonight's dinner!
But look a little closer, and you will see something missing....... yep, vegetables. For some reason they are almost never included with any meal, and they are something I have been craving very much lately. Seriously though, who craves veggies?
I did just find out I am pregnant, which you can read all about at this blog, but still, I have never heard of a pregnant woman craving veggies. But hey, go me! At least at this point I am craving healthy foods, and I'm sure it will go away once I am actually getting my recommended servings of vegetables everyday! Anyways, I did go downstairs and make myself some acorn squash to go with tonight's dinner. MMMMMM, feeling much more satisfied now!