Pictures from our trip to Kansas

We had such a fun time in Kansas over Memorial Day weekend and it occurred to me that I never posted the pictures we took on my big camera while we were there!  We can't wait to go back to visit soon!

MK had fun with Mama and Aunt Lindy!

Landon had a big time playing ball with Papa!

Love.  :)

He found the blackberry bush!

Aunt Lindy is fun!

Look at this...I mean look at this.  Two of my most favorite guys in the whole world!!!

Melt my heart!

MK showed off her pulling up skills.

And she and Daddy had fun too!

There is a picture of me crawling through this table as a baby...and we have one of Landon too!

Dada caught the biggest fish!

No trip to "Tansas" is complete without a "vroom vroom" ride!

Landon ran to and from and to and from and to and from the wheat field!!

Ninja and bathroom words

Lately Landon has been saying "poo poo, poop, poo, etc" at random times or sometimes he calls people versions of these words. We tell him that we don't use bathroom words unless we have to use the bathroom! He's ornery. So, tonight Landon picked out a book for daddy to read and when daddy read the title..."A Balloon for Pooh"...Landon reminded him that we don't use those words! Winnie makes things confusing at our house!!

After the book was read Jim said that Landon told him that earlier today while he was in his room for time out (probably for using bathroom words) that he turned off the light and his ninja costume appeared in the closet! So he put it on and hi-ya'd stuff. He's been Ninja Landon for a few days now has been hi-ya'ing everything in site! He told his daddy that he wants to be a ninja for Halloween and instead of a scary black cat on the roof like the neighbors have he wants a ninja on our roof!

I have no idea where he comes up with the stuff! :)


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SPP's Big Move!

SPP is moving out west! This has been a gigantic project for a long time now and we are finally moving to our new campus! We've been getting quite a lot of press in the area too! We have a new 62 million dollar campus that includes a very impressive operations center and an amazing office building! Because of the critical systems operations uses to manage the grid and operate the energy market the operations center is already set up. We have been working on that for months and now it's time for those of us in the office building to move. My group moved today and we will spend the rest of the week moving the rest of the company. We have contracted with a moving company out of Texas to move our equipment but the IT group is responsible for ensuring all the equipment is broken down and set up correctly. It's no small task for a company of almost 600! A few features of the new campus include all original, local art work, a magnificent indoor/outdoor dining area, lots of space for IT equipment, several display areas to showcase SPP's history and beverage centers on each floor. It's really indescribable. I can tell you I've never worked anyplace nicer!!
I have a new office and enjoyed setting it all up today and my service desk area is pretty great too! I'm going to miss being in the midtown area...and will really miss my friends at the Starbucks on the way to the old office...especially since there isn't one on the way to the new office! Oh well, the beverage centers have pretty neat single serve coffee makers so I'll survive. Ha!

*Edited on Wednesday morning to add...the single serve coffee makers are not amazing! Good thing Jim makes good coffee. Will have to bring my own!*

I have to note that today I made my last "on the way to work" stop at "my Starbucks" and while I was busy telling the girl at the window that I would miss them I drove off forgetting to pay!!! I turned around and we both got a good laugh out of the whole ordeal.
I took some pictures today and I have to share them. I have some really fun (and kinda crazy) coworkers. They sure make coming to work every day enjoyable. I'm very thankful to work for such an amazing company! I don't think many of my coworkers read my blog...but if you do, haha! I couldn't resist sharing the fun pictures from our last day at Plaza West!




























My new digs! I really like my new office and hopefully tomorrow I will remember to head west instead of east!!!








This is a picture of the office building. It's pretty amazing. This picture doesn't do it justice!




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Maddie Kate is 8 Months Old!

Maddie Kate is 8 months old!  She continues to grow and change and learn new things and we are enjoying having her as part of our family!  I'll do a bigger post at 9 months when we have her 9 month checkup but for now I'll say that she weighs 18 pounds...we know that because she paid a visit to the pediatrician this week and seems to have an ear infection.  She's feeling better and is such a cutie!  We went to mass tonight and she charmed lots of people around us with her new ability to wave and say "hi".  Landon, as ornery as he is, loves his baby sister and when he isn't taking toys away from her she loves him too.  When he does take a toy away she's not shy in letting him know that it doesn't make her happy!  She's still not sleeping great but we've had a few nights of reprieve and we hope that even only waking up once will become our new normal fast.  Sleeping all night seems far fetched at this point so we'll take her only waking up once as improvement!  Ms MK and I had a photo shoot this week and she's a little too busy to pose!

8 months!

Hmmm, wonder what mommy will do if I jump off this chair? 

Hi! 

What's this?  A sticker?

Think I'll eat it.

Oooooh!  Mommy is luring me with her phone! And it's playing Kenny Chesney!  I've got to get it!

Got it!

Think I'll eat it.  Grody.

Landon jumped off the diving board!

We met up with Luke, Ella and Marie at the pool last weekend and Landon jumped off the diving board for the first time! Just took a little peer pressure instead of convincing from daddy! After he went off the diving board once he was hooked and jumped several times! Jim said that tonight when they went Landon went off first thing! Jim is so proud and Landon is too!








The boys also had a noodle fight!





And I tried to get a fun picture of the kids together but the boys were being ornery! They are so much fun to watch when they play together!!










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Landon Funnies

Me: Landon, let's work on opposites. Do you know what the opposite of happy is?

Landon: Does his sideways look of thought.

Me: The opposite of happy is sad.

Landon: Why is the octopus sad?

Me: Huh? Wait. Oh!!!!!! Haha!!!

.......

Landon: Mommy I want a "naenae"

Me: what's a naenae?

Landon: it's a "anana" (banana) in "fanish!" (Spanish)...said with an ornery grin.




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5 years and a fun family weekend!

Saturday was our 5th wedding anniversary! Jim sent me 5 roses to work and his card said something along the lines of "Wow 5 years! Sometimes MK makes it feel like 50!". Ha! I'm certain our friends, family and coworkers won't know what to think when we both stop complaining about our lack of sleep! As challenging as times have been lately I'm certain neither of us would have it any other way. We have been blessed beyond measure and I know someday we will look back on this time in our lives and smile. We celebrated our big day by taking the kiddos to the farmers market in the morning and laughed when we got downtown and saw all the taekwondo folks! They have their big event this weekend every year and our out of town wedding guests had a hard time finding hotel rooms because of it! We bought some corn on the cob, okra and cherries and there was an older couple there selling pens and such made out of wood. Wood is the traditional gift for the 5th anniversary and since I hadn't found the perfect gift for Jim we were excited for him to pick out a nice pen. We told the man (in between chasing Landon) that it was our anniversary and he told us that he and his wife were about to celebrate 61 years! I asked him if he had any advice and he said there are two words a man should know to insure a lasting marriage. "Yes dear". We laughed. He also said that commitment is also a big word and that love has ups and downs but commitment is key. Having the mentality that you're committed and there is no other option will keep things in perspective. We thought that was good advice. We all have challenging times in life and we have days when we don't necessarily get along but we feel like we are in this together and even on our most challenging days we know we are in this for the long haul and thankfully we are a pretty good team and we love each other.

After the farmers market we took the kiddos to the pool and then we went to mass with the family. Afterwards we had planned on getting takeout to avoid a messy kitchen and we wanted to watch a movie. We got takeout but unfortunately the resident 3 year old had a late nap and wasn't at all interested in going to bed. So, our plans for a movie didn't work out but that was ok. We are going to the Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker concert Wednesday and I can't wait! I know Jim is excited for a date night even though he isn't a fan of country music!

This morning Jim took Landon fishing and they caught 5 fish! MK and I stayed home to do girl stuff. I've probably not mentioned it much but I have to say...I'm more and more excited everyday that I have a daughter to do girl things with. I know I once said that I always envisioned being a momma to boys but I'm so glad God has given me a baby girl. I know she might not grow up to enjoy everything I enjoy but I have dreams of us baking and going to plays and musicals and on fun girl trips together. I just smile so big when I think about it. My mom and I have such a great relationship and I hope MK and I will too!

When the boys got home from fishing we took the kiddos back to the pool. Landon finally made his daddy happy and jumped off the side and MK took a nap in a lounge chair! I'd say even though there wasn't a fancy anniversary dinner (or even a movie on the couch) that we had a great weekend celebrating our marriage!

Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend! Next time I will get a few of daddy!




























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Maddie Kate is 7 months old!

So, actually she's pretty close to 8 months old now and I'm obviously way behind! Last week I got her dressed for her 7 month photo shoot way late and when I picked up my camera the battery was dead. Nice. So, I took some pictures with my phone. She was in such a cute mood and I was sad that I wouldn't be able to get any good pictures of her at 7 months!! She is growing and changing so fast and there is so much to write but I will save it for her 8 month post next week...I will add though that until this week after a visit to the dr because I thought surely she had an ear infection since she wasn't sleeping well at all...she is sleeping better. Her ears weren't infected but were a little pink...and she is still working on 5 teeth...so she's getting Motrin and ear drops at night. They seem to be helping because for the last couple of nights she's doing better. Her dr said it sounds like she is sleep deprived. Really? How do you fix it if she won't sleep?? She won't nap at school and bedtime is a challenge. We have started her bedtime routine earlier and we are trying to stay consistent...easier said than done with an active 3 year old in the house and two full time jobs...but after letting her cry it out just a little and with some snuggling we are doing better and the Battreal household has been a smidgen less stressful this week...and MK gets cuter by the minute.




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Maddie Kate's first day of school.

Today was MK's first day of school. I was a little nervous about taking her because she's been a little clingy lately and her schedule is a little out of whack. I talked to her teachers this morning when I dropped her off and told them that she's a little high maintenance these days. I sat her down on the floor and she immediately started playing with toys and made friends with a cute little girl almost immediately. She didn't even notice I wasn't looking at her! It was so sweet and made dropping her off so easy. I didn't even cry! I really thought I would and I'm so glad she did so well. When I picked her up the teachers said she was happy and fun all day! I guess she's going to be our sweet little social baby and we just love her so much!




Also, Jim's dad came home from the hospital today and we are so happy! He's feeling much better and the kiddos can't wait to see him!

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Pool Adventures!

Yesterday we took the kiddos to our neighborhood pool for the first time this year...it was for our neighbor's birthday. Landon was so excited before we left and although he had fun, he still needs to learn that we don't run around the pool and he didn't quite pick up where he left off last year. This frustrated his daddy who had high hopes that the kid would do backflips and cannonballs off the diving board immediately! Ha! I know he will be right back into the swing of swimming soon...however, he will not be getting reacquainted by taking swimming lessons. I took him to his first lesson tonight and he was less than enthused to get in the pool with just the coach and not mommy or daddy. He's our cautious kid while I'm certain our fearless (already) MK will dive in head first when she's older and the water warms up a bit. I think we will either skip lessons altogether in favor of having daddy spend quality pool time with our guy or we will wait til next month.



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Sleep...it's obviously overrated.

Maddie Kate still isn't sleeping all night. I know this phase has to end eventually but right now it feels like we will never actually sleep all night again. Baby girl had a tummy bug earlier this week and although she seems to be over it, tonight she seems to be suffering from gassiness...or maybe the fact that she's cutting 37 teeth at once is the reason she isn't sleeping and seems to be so uncomfortable! We've tried gas drops and Motrin and after trying for over an hour to get her settled she's finally asleep. Hopefully for a while. I'm not complaining...just documenting our current situation so we can look back and laugh when she decides she wants to sleep all night. Clearly she isn't cutting 37 teeth...I'm exaggerating. But she does appear to be cutting 5 at once. She has three on the bottom already and one just started popping up on the bottom and I noticed that the two teeth closest to her two front teeth are coming in and her two front teeth are bulging. She's such a happy little thing during the day but at night she is so unsettled! We just hate that she's obviously in pain and we haven't figured out how to make her comfortable. We will get there and this will all be a distant memory soon enough but it's sure a challenge now! It could definitely be worse and we count our blessings daily that we have generally healthy kiddos.

Also, Jim's dad has started feeling better and it's such a relief to everyone. He is still in the hospital but he's improving and we hope he can come home soon. If you read my blog keep he and Mary in your prayers. I know they're ready to get home so they can get back to normal...the kiddos and I are really missing them and can't wait to see them soon!

On a side note...Landon and MK went to stay with Aunt Sissy today and his cousins had fun painting his face! Apparently he was a trooper and enjoyed it as much as they did!! Little toots!!




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