the great bathtub pooper strikes again...

That's what we've been calling Hailey these days...and she dragged her brother along with her this time! We've had a lot of "pooping issues" over here at the Konietzki household in the 2 short years that we've had a little girl, but today was definitely the one that took the cake!

I've been enjoying putting Hailey and Jackson in the bathtub together, but today, after Hailey pooped, while Jackson was swimming around- may have just cured me from ever doing that again! I didn't think I'd ever have to fish turds and a baby out of the bathtub at the same time, but that's just what we did this evening...ahhh...the joys of parenthood, huh?!! :)

Maybe this is one of those times that all teenagers should witness- I can pretty much gaurantee the teen pregnancy rate would drop! :)

giggle, giggle, laugh, laugh

That's what we do every day with Hailey around...this girl is seriously goofy!!

That's why we love her! :)

She had to take a bath this evening, because she and her little friend, Samuel, decided to play in baby formula and although he definitely got the brunt of it (he actually looked like he had an AWFUL case of dandruff) Hailey had dry formula in her ears, her hair, under her fingernails- basically she smelled like it! And, mixed in with that was coffee, because she and Samuel (and Taylor and Trevor) also got into the can of coffee that I left on the counter this morning! (yes, they did have a very active day) ;) So, needless to say, she was in desperate need of a bath, but afterwards she still had a lot of energy left in her, so she put on her coonskin cap and goofed around on our bed!

What possessed her to do that is anybody's guess, but it sure was cute...

Hope your day was as goofy and fun filled as ours was!

our own little jumping bean

It was a jump, jump, jumping party for Mr Jackson this morning!

And, jump he did!!

I'm so happy- he's finally starting to giggle and laugh! I was really beginning to wonder why he didn't...he smiles all the time, but he hadn't really laughed until just recently!!

isn't he just a doll??!!

I can't get enough of his sweet little face and sweet little smile!

It's pictures like these that make me wanna have more and more babies...yikes! I'd better get off of here and stop looking at them, huh?! ;)

Tea for Two!

Hailey and I were supposed to host a tea party for some girly friends this morning, but instead we all got snowed in and so we decided not to let all the yummy food and cute decorations go to waste- we had a tea party for the two of us!! :)

Hailey loved the opportunity to be a big grown up girl and use a glass plate with a real cup and a real fork and knife! She even tried to cut her cheese and sandwich meat with the knife!
Here she is showing me her best and biggest happy face!

she was especially fond of the chocolate covered strawberries and the little chocolates that we had as a special treat! She asked me to take a picture of the "chlate" (as she calls it)

and then I had to take a picture of the cheese, too! :)

Ahh...what can I say it doesn't take much to make Hailey and I happy and to keep us occupied for a day!

It was a super fun way to celebrate a rather disappointing turn of events...who woulda thought that two days in a row in late March snow would have cancelled our plans?? My only big disappointment is that I didn't get a picture of her cute princess dress that she's wearing. She dressed herself this morning and it was a riot- all frills and pink! Her poor Daddy would not be very proud if he saw it! (but, he would have thought she was cute) :)

Can a house with two babies ever be peacefilled??

That's the question I have been asking myself, pretty much for about 6 1/2 months, now, and I don't know if I really have the answer, but this last week we have really been trying to do what we can to achieve some peace in our house!

These two kids are so sweet and so wonderful, I truly enjoy being their Mom, but it is exhausting work and hard to handle the days when both are clamouring for attention and crying and needing me all at the same time. There are days when I just fall in to bed exhausted and completely wore out at the end of the day. My mom in law always says that the days that she had with her two little ones were the best days of her life and I had begun to seriously doudt her sanity... ;) But, I have been doing some soul searching, some good book reading, and some Bible studying and this week we started a peaceful house "boot camp" at the Konietzki house! And, so far I'd say it's a success. There are a few new ideas that only made it one day, but there are many that will probably last a long, long time!

One of my favorites is the timer on our stove! We have been using it every day, numerous times a day and Hailey and I both LOVE it! She wants me to time everything, now, and I love it, too, because it works wonders with her disposition. She no longer fights me when we have to put the playdoh away, or sit down to read a story, or share a toy with Jackson (she gets 10 min, he gets 10 min), or have snack time (ok, she never whined when it was snack time).

The other thing that I love is the happy/sad jelly bean jars. We have to take a jellybean out of the happy jar and put it in the sad jar when she does something that would make Jesus sad (whine, throw a fit, beg for snacks when I said no, etc), but when she does something that would make Jesus happy, she gets to put a jellybean or two from the sad jar to the happy jar! She really has gotten into doing this and even says, "happy Jesus" when she helps me change Jackson's diaper or gets him a drink of water or some other little thing. I even let her put a jellybean in there sometimes when she just has a cheerful or happy heart! The goal is to go out on a date with her Papa when she gets the happy jar all filled up. I don't know if she gets that part at all, but she definitely LOVES going out to eat with her Papa, so I think it'll be a pleasant surprise someday. The best part about it is that not only do I get to reward her joyful heart, but when she does have a fit or is cranky I distract her by having her put a bean in the jar and then she generally forgets what the big deal was anyways! :)

I'd have to say that my favorite part of our new "peacefilled" days is our scheduled playtime and scheduled quiet time. We do a "high five" schedule each morning and when all 5 of our things are done Hailey gets to have some free playtime before Jackson takes his nap and we sit down to read some stories, then we move on from together story time to Hailey's quiet storytime and mommy's time to read her Bible! It's even nice for me to have a set time each day that I can sit down and spend some time in the Word and in prayer. I won't bore you with our whole mornings worth of a schedule, but we have it pretty much all scheduled out until Papa comes home at 3:30 and it really does make for a way better day for all of us. I think that I had always rejected a schedule, because I don't like to be "tied" down to one, but I have found that my daughter really does thrive on a schedule- she's a lot more like her Papa than her Mommy in that, and because I love Hailey and I love the peace that having a happy daughter brings to my home I love the scheduled days that we have at home together! I'm not a huge fan of staying home a lot to make it all happen, but it really does seem to make for a happier house, so I guess I can get used to the slower pace of life and even learn to embrace it- especially with the summer coming!! :)

Even Korey has noticed a change at our house and remarked how much he liked the fact that Hailey and I both seem so much happier this weekend...so, can a house with two babies be peacefilled?? Probably not all the time, but I do know that with a few tweaks to my life, a change in my heart and my attitude and a little bit more work it can be at least a little bit closer to peacefilled!!!

a tisket, a tasket, two kids in a basket!

I put Jackson in this cute little basket the other day...isn't he cute??

then, in typical Hailey style she wanted to get in on the action, too!

It was definitely worth the $6 I spent on the baskets, 'cause they were adorable and had so much fun playing in these two baskets!

who knew baskets could afford kids this much excitement?!

Happy Birthday dearest Nani!

It was my Mom's birthday on Thursday and she came up and spent the day with her two favorite grandchildren! (I can say that for a few more months...) ;) It was a fun little day- I'm not really sure who had more fun Hailey or her Nani. Hailey and I had gone shopping a few days earlier for my mom's present and ever since then Hailey had been really excited about Nani's birthday- even practicing saying, "happy birthday". (she did have a hard time understanding that it was Nani's birthday and not her own "elmo birthday") :)

we made my mom a lemon blueberry "tart" instead of a birthday cake. I think she liked it! :)
I'm so thankful for my wonderful mother. She's been my hero for as long as I can remember and I think that Hailey just may take up any slack that I have in that area- she pretty much worships the ground my Mom walks on! I can't even tell her that we're going to Nani's house until we get there, because if we have to stop and run some errands on the way there she throws a HUGE fit and screams, "no Nani house" all the way through the store! (no kidding...this has actually happened) She even knows that we are almost there when we turn onto the road by my parent's house...how a little girl who "forgets" everyday that she can't go in the snack cupboard can remember that is beyond me...
I can't blame Hailey, though, my Mom is a great woman of God and an amazing Nani- not to mention a great Mom. I always remember that my Mom was willing to listen to me, no matter what I had to say. She even let me follow her around the house, talking her ear off. I never realized how big of a deal that was until I had my own little talking daughter and now I know how precious silence can be and how much of a struggle it can be as a mom to give up that sweet silence for your child. I hope that that is a lesson that I can learn from my Mom and pass on to my daughter. Because my Mom never made me feel like it was a struggle to have me around, talking to her and copying her- she actually made it seem (to me, anyways) that it was nice to have me around. She isn't just been a great listener, my Mom has also taught me so much. She taught me to cook, to read my Bible, to forgive and forget, to grocery shop on a budget (one for which Korey will always be grateful...), to plan a menu and so many more things that it would be hard to put them all on here! My Mom is my best friend and I truly do thank God everyday that He blessed me so incredibly much by putting me in her life.

It's been rough around our house lately...

both the kids have had a few "tumbles" and "rumbles" and each are sporting a nice little black eye!

Here's Hailey's...she got it from falling down our kitchen stairs into the mudroom. She was pretty tired and should have already been down for her nap, but instead she was opening the door and calling to Allie(who was outside) while I was cleaning up from lunch and she just slipped right down the stairs, landing on her poor little head! :(

And, here's baby Jack's! He fell off the bed and got the wind knocked out of him on Friday morning, but that's not what gave him the black eye...he got that from my parent's dog stepping on his face! (yeah, he did have a rough day on Friday...poor guy, I bet he was happy when he woke up and it was Saturday! ;))

I'm so thankful that neither of my kids got any more hurt than a black eye and a few scratches. Either one of them really could have gotten really hurt in their respective "tumbles", but I truly believe that God was watching over them and protecting them from any serious harm! And, I'm very thankful for how quickly baby skin heals- Jackson barely shows any of his cuts and scratches and Hailey just has a nasty looking yellow bruise that keeps getting smaller and smaller as the days go by!!

6 months!

Can you believe that this little cutie is 6 months old already??
I think that he gets cuter and cuter as the days go by.

Here's a little bit of what he's doing these days:

*eating pretty much anything and everything he can get his hands on!

in fact, he screeches and hollers like crazy if he doesn't get it fast enough or if it runs out. It doesn't matter how much he gets, he always wants more!! I think he's gonna be a little chunker soon. :)

*rolling all over the place. He doesn't really like to sit anymore or hang out in the bouncy seat or swing (the only reason we keep the swing around is because his sister is addicted to it...) ;) He even gets too excited to sit in his bumbo and has fallen out on his head two times in a row, now...oops!

*jumping like crazy in the jumperoo. He loves it because it's in our doorway and can see me, even if I go into the kitchen or the livingroom!

*giggles and laughs outloud at his big sister. The rest of us have to work pretty hard to get him to laugh or to distract him when he's crying, but not Hailey- she just says, "HI baby Jack" and he's smiling...what a little bugger, huh?!

*stealing his sister's blankie, bunny, and trying to steal her snacks! (he also "kicks" her and she tattles on him...I guess it's starting already...) I'm thinking he's gonna be kind of a bully, 'cause Hailey's rather wimpy when it comes to defending herself, even now, when she definitely outweighs him! Luckily (for him, anyways) he doesn't seem too concerned with her tears!

I'm loving the fact that I'm the mom of a 6 month old, now! It is such a great age- no more of that wimpy crying newborn stuff, he eats less often and sleeps for longer periods at a time- what more could you ask for?? He's an added joy to my life and I wouldn't change having him for anything in the world- even at 4 in the morning when he wakes up crying because he has to poop and is having a hard time... ;)

facebook for Hailey??

Yup, Hailey has a facebook page, now!

We made a "friendship tree" the other day and Korey calls it her facebook page... ;) It really is just a tree that I took all of our christmas card pictures and put on. We have some dear friends that are moving and it got me thinking about Hailey not even remembering them...so, I wanted her to be able to have photos of our family and friends so that she would be reminded of who they are- even if she doesn't see them all the time!

So, no, I don't think Hailey needs a facebook page, yet, but this tree was a great success for her. She LOVES it- she goes by it all the time and "counts" the people and the butterfly and flowers. :) If you don't see your picture on here it's because you didn't send us a christmas picture this year- so get on it!! :)

Isn't this adorable??? She's been sitting on her "princess potty" alot lately and actually has even gone poopy on there a few days in a row, now!! (she even says, "princess potty, momma" when she has to go) It may be the start of something good and pretty exciting!! :)

I just love this little girl! She makes me so happy. I don't think I'll ever be able to find a better helper or a kid that makes me giggle more than this little girl does!