I just took a long walk with Harley and was thinking the whole time how peaceful the neighborhood felt. I love that time of night where everyone is done with dinner, getting ready for bed and settling down. It is such a peaceful feeling. I couldn't help but think how nice it would feel to have that peace, all day every day. I think that's what God wants for us, but too many times we let worry, anger, fear, and a million other things get in the way. Of course, I speak from personal experience with this. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a worrier. I think having kids made this about 100 times worse! So, now I not only worry about myself, I worry about them constantly as well.

God is really working with me on this and I'm sure there are times where he just wants to give me a good pinch or maybe even a punch and tell me to stop worrying.

We found out that our church has a community group right in our neighborhood! I'm excited to meet other people nearby that go to our church. I hope we can make some new friends!

On Wednesday, Adam and I celebrate 9 years of marriage. What? 9 years already? Crazy! I can't believe it. I have a fun dinner planned for us! I'm going to surprise Adam with our plans. It's my turn since he put together the weekend at Lost Pines. I am so thankful to be married to someone that I am confident will be my other half forever. Hey, what is that? Is that peace I'm feeling? I think it is! Yeah! That's one step for today!

I almost forgot to mention my surprise weekend getaway to Lost Pines Resort! Adam planned a wonderful weekend for just the two of us and it was fantastic. We got to lay by the pool, float the lazy river, get a couples massage and eat great food. And... get lots of rest! I even got chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room one night! It was such a sweet thing for him to do for me and I really appreciated it so much. He put a ton of effort into the weekend and it meant so much! What a great hubby!

Fun Times

It is officially summer!!! I realize how much I love summer every time it gets here. I love spending more time outside and playing with my kids outside. My "to-do" list always seems to be bigger in the summer. Maybe I'm more motivated!
Jackson celebrated his first birthday on May 29th. It is hard to believe it has been a year since he came into our lives. It has been such a joy to have him as part of our family. He didn't dive into his birthday cake like I had hoped, but we still had a fun time celebrating. He got some new fun toys (most of his toys were Kylie's). He loves the little playhouse/slide that Grandma Mary bought him and he figured out how to get up there and go down the slide all by himself. After he slides he always looks to make sure someone's watching and then claps and giggles for himself. He loves being outside more than anything these days. Any time he hears a door open he bolts that direction to try and get outside. He's content just walking around checking things out. He'll pick up some grass or a leaf now and then to try and eat, but other than that, he's just playing and exploring. I think I might have found his birthmark! Kylie's is very easy to spot. Hers is right on her collar bone and it's pretty big, maybe about inch long. I have never seen one on Jackson until now. I think his is actually a hyper-pigment birthmark. So, now that he has just a little color from the sun, I can see it. Here are some more things to know about Jackson and the things he can do now that he is a big boy one year old!
1. Clap his hands
2. Say Bye Bye and Dadda and Mama
3. Blow kisses (sort of... still working on this one)
4. Wave bye bye
5. Say Da for "done" and lift up his arms when he's done eating
6. Loves to eat little apple pieces, bananas, cheerios, green beans, and yogurt.
7. Weighs 24.9 lbs!
8. Has 7 teeth, soon to be 8 we think.
9. Uses his suckies at bedtime (we actually never really gave it to him out of bed)
10. Likes to put things in strange places - my shoes in the litter box or Kylie's shoes in her hamper. I always know it's him when I find things in really random places. He also put one of my books in the toilet today.
11. Take his diaper off - really love this one.
12. Blow bubbles in his bath water.
13. Play a recorder - not actually notes, but he can play it without using his fingers.
14. Loves to feed the dog from the highchair.

Kylie is done with school for now and is really loving being home for summer. I got to go to her Splash Day/End of Year party day and really enjoyed spending the day with her and the sweet kids she has been in class with. She starts VBS at Hyde Park on Tuesday with my mom and will go to another one this summer at Bannockburn. I've signed her up for a dance class on Saturdays to get her started with it and see how she likes it. I think she'll be a great dancer. She's obviously got the tippy-toes for being a ballerina! She's still doing Cheer Station which has shown to be pretty tough for her. The practices are twice a week for an hour and a half and it is hard work. She has a great time while she's there, but she's definitely getting a feel for what it's like to work hard for something. She is reading really well right now, actually beyond my hopes for her by Kindergarten. We are going to continue practicing with her this summer so that she goes to school ready to read like crazy! She's going to the swimming pool almost every day it seems and has already way surpassed what I could ever hope to have for a tan. She continues to be such a blessing in our lives. She makes us laugh every day. She is just amazing.
I'll post pictures from the Birthday Fiesta and more soon!!!

First Big Swim

Hair blowin' in the breeze...

I can't sit up in this thing Mom!

Cheerios anyone?

Jackson has offiically swam for his first time at the pool. I have taken him once before very briefly and noticed in that short time that he has no fear at the pool (much like sister). So, I found it quite necessary to buy him a vest of some sort and this is what I was able to find.

We decided it was his turtle suit because it looks like a turtle shell. It's actually pretty neat. It pretty much forces him to his back if he needs to float. So, I've decided that's what we're going to learn first. We'll see how it goes! I'm glad he's not afraid of the water, but no rest time for mom at the pool!


Luckily, Aunt D and Katie came with us so Katie could play with Kylie while we made sure Jackson didn't jump in somewhere. It was a fun early birthday celebration for my big sis.

Only one more day until Adam and I leave for our surprise getaway weekend. I'm anxious to see where we will be going and am so excited to get away for a bit to relax! I'll miss my babies, but I could use a little R and R.

Here's to a great summer!!!!

May is My Month!

I love May! May 6th was my birthday, May 9th was Mother's Day, May 21st I leave for a romantic getaway weekend to a surprise destination and May 29th my baby boy turns one year old! There are many fun days in May!

My birthday and mother's day week was very special. I got a beautiful hand-made card from Kylie, great food, yummy cake made by Lisa and fun gifts. Adam worked extra hard to make it a special week for me!

Only 15 days of school left and then we are officially into summer vacation. Kinda scary, but fun too. Summer is a little tricky around the Biehler household trying to manage work, kids and schedules. Not an easy task! There will be many trips to the pool, there is no doubt about that.

Today Jackson was feeling very frisky outside. He absolutely loves being outside, just like his big sister. He was having fun playing with the dog bowls as you can see from the pictures. It was really funny. I kept taking them back to the place where they stay and he would go back and get them over and over. Then, when he found out he could put them on the table and crawl up there... watch out!

We had our first new parent breakfast at Regents and every time we go there we are more excited for Kylie for next year. What an amazing place for any kid to go. It's just incredible. We met some really nice people and learned a bit more about the school and how we can get involved. They promote parent involvement very heavily as the parents and school take an active role side-by-side in helping the kids grow.

We are still loving Austin Stone church and feel truly blessed by it every time we go. We dedicated Jackson May 2nd and the church prayed over him and our family. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us to learn through the people we meet and the things we can learn from this amazing church.

On another great note, Debbie is done with chemo now! She had four treatments and now we will find out what the next step is. She has been so brave through this whole process and it's truly been an inspiration. I pray that God will let her get past this and never have to deal with it again. I'm so thankful for smart doctors and all the research that has been done.

My baby boy can walk!

Jackson is officially walking now! It is awesome. He went from about 5 steps to walking just about anywhere he wants in a week. I am super-impressed by this little guy. I was thinking he would walk before his first birthday, but I wasn't sure it would happen so quickly. Yeah for him!!! Mommy is sooooo proud!

He loves taking bubble baths and I got this cute picture of him playing in the bath. He's so happy!

Easter fun, Happy Spring

Easter Egg Hunt @ School!!!
My two handsome men....awwwwww.

My sweet little bunny

Daddy's Girl

Blessed Family

We had a great Easter this year. Pretty low key, but just the way we like it! We had a nice Saturday at Bethany Lutheran's Easter Egg Hunt and picnic. The egg hunt literally lasted maybe 2 minutes. There were so many kids that it was crazy! I found myself getting very competitive as Kylie was trying to get eggs. I was certainly not going to let her walk away empty-handed!

After the egg hunt was face painting, bunny holding, and inflatable jumping! Kylie loves to hold the bunnies and is so good with them. She has the animal love like her mom and dad!

After the picnic, Kylie and I spent some time together and did a little shopping for her at Justice, the big girl store. She loves that store, and secretly I do too. It totally takes me back to when I was a kid. It's so fun to pick things out for her. I know as she gets older we'll have lots of fun shopping excursions together!

Easter Sunday was church, then family time with Adam's family and then mine. Good food and good company with some egg hunting in between. I've never seen so many eggs with money in them. The Easter Bunny must be doing pretty good for himself! Actually, I really prefer money over candy. All of that candy ends up going to waste after a while anyways, or I eat it which is no bueno.

Jackson is really starting to try and walk now. He's taken about 5 steps at one time so far and is really getting to stand up for longer periods of time without holding on. He's getting more teeth and his bite is as fierce as ever! He still has the most precious laugh that we truly enjoy every day. We went to his well-check today and he weighed 22 lbs. 15 oz. and is 27.5 inches long!

Kylie started a new team at Cheer Station this week. I'm a litte nervous about it, but we'll see how it goes. I don't want things to get too intense too quickly. She is still so young and needs to just have fun with it. So, we'll see how she likes it!

Well, better go to bed!!! As usual, a late night post!