Friday, January 28, 2011

new and old

This is Finny's newest face.  Running around, giggling, with her hands covering her mouth.
I for one think it is so adorable.  Like she has a secret she just simply doesn't think she can keep...


This pose, however, is getting OLD.
I've said before how much she loves being with her Mommy.
Well, this is what I see all.the.time.
You know, when I'm trying to make dinner, talk on the phone, do ANYTHING without her in my arms.
How DARE I think I could put her down...how dare I.

If only you could hear the whine that goes with it...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

a {much overdue} visit

This week, when Heidi called to tell me she was coming to the cities, I was ECSTATIC!
It had been WAAAAY too long since we had seen each other.  I mean, seriously.

Heidi recently moved about 15 hours closer to us.  And even though it's still quite a drive to get to her, I have a feeling we will be seeing MUCH more of her in the future!

She left her little beauties with her sister, but I can't wait to see them soon, too!
Of course Carissa was here as well, along with her Mr. Man!


I couldn't resist a shot with the kiddos together.  I mean, really - how cute is Cohen!? He's getting to be such a chunkster!


 

Finny was so obsessed with Cohen, oohing and aahing over him with little squeals.  It was hard to even get a picture of the two of them because she wouldn't get her head out of his face! :)

Come back SOON, Heids...and next time, bring the girlies.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

where it all goes down...

Welcome to my little blog space...where all of the magic happens??

This room doubles as both our spare room and office since we unfortunately don't have one in our house.
But if you're here, you know it's called Kara's Room.

My small desk, and my chair that I {heart} a ton.
I got it at my favorite antique store. With a little paint, stain, and distressing, it was perfect for the room.

A cheesy self-portrait. Gotta love it. 
 The mirror was a Homegoods clearance purchase. Again, spray paint goes a long way!
This cluster is when you walk in the door. 
{and it bugs me that on the website they have it hanging the other way...believe me, this is the only direction the holes allow it to be hung}.

Print is an Etsy purchase, and the square card is from my favorite little store...i like you.
I wanted to keep the room light and simple, and I love the way it turned out. Seriously simple.

Pillows - Target
Bedding - West Elm
Magnet Board - Jonathan Adler {I had seen it online and loved it, and what do you know...Patina had it!}
Frame - Thrift store - still in the box for 10 cents. {I love a good deal!}
So, that's it. I had gotten an email asking where I blog from... Consider yourself toured. :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

das boot

I can see Oktoberfest 2027...


Yes, that's my four-year-old, drinking water out of das boot.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

what she's up to...

A girlfriend made a comment yesterday that I haven't updated on Finster lately on my blog.
Since she is changing so much still, I thought I'd give a quick one.

She lurves to be outside.  And even though it's a -17 out right now, she is still begging to be out.  Her cheeks can be icicles and she still cries when it's time to come in.  I think she and I both are aching for spring.

She's a little character.  She laughs ALL of the time, and thinks she's as hilarious as the rest of us do.  She cracks herself up all of the time.  Seriously.
She is SUCH a girl.  All things accessories.  
She has taught us that everything {yes, EVERYTHING} can be worn either as a bracelet or a necklace.
She still loves babies.  You know those women, or even the girls you knew in high school, that you think were put on this earth to be a Mom?
 I think Finster is one of them.  Give her a baby and you've given her bliss.


When I brought the kiddos to the doctor last week, she weighed in at a whopping 19.5 pounds.  Still a peanut.
She still is happiest when she's in her Mommy's arms, but she's getting better, especially with her Aunt Jess.  She passes up Mommy any day for her, but quickly comes right back.

The last few weeks have been nothing short of tough for the two of us.  For some reason, she has NOT been sleeping.  I'm talking up for HOURS in the middle of the night.  INTENSE screaming...whaling in fact.
Cut to Tuesday, when I realized she got a tooth.  On the bottom, next to the two that have been sitting there for months.  Huh, teething - I figured the mild fevers and not sleeping may have been that...so I guess that was it.
UNTIL I had her that same night, tickling her upside down.  She had popped in three molars as well!
  Three.Molars.
Good GOD no wonder she hadn't been able to sleep, poor girl probably thought her mouth was going to explode.  Ahhhhh, mother of the year, I am.  Don't dispute it, people.  Now let me take a nap.

Last but not least, last week in my quest to create all things hand-made, I made about 10 new hair accessories for Finley's hair.  Now, yes, I know that a glue gun doesn't come close to a sewing machine, but hey - it's a start.

And let's get real, the girl can use all the help she can get in the hair-taming department.
Need proof??


Friday, January 21, 2011

surprise {again...and again!}

p, it was another surprise party last weekend. This one had been in the works for MONTHS.
We were all very excited to help Liz celebrate her birthday, with Gina and Tim making a long drive, and Alyss
a flying in.
{Mind you, with the snow...I did not care for the fact that what
should have been a 25 minute drive from the airport took Alyssa and I well over 2 hours! Thanks again, Minnesota Winter.}
Can you tell she was surprised!?
And let's just say, look at this cute little Mama. Oh, how we can't wait for another babe to join our "family". And a bowling tee, how appropriate.


Saturday night, we decided to have a surprise #2 for the weekend.

See, Gina's birthday falls shortly after the holidays as well, and since they live so far away, we're never there to take her out for a birthday drink.  So Tim thought it would be fun to do something small but still special for G.

I love this picture, telling us how much it means to her that we all put effort into a night for her...

And this one almost equally as much...making her look like an a$$. :)


And why the Rice Krispies?  As I was ordering a cake for Gina, Tim told me that she actually hates cake 
{how did I never know this about her?}
and that she had Rice Krispy treats growing up, so Saturday afternoon, you can guess what I was making!



Happy Birthday, Ladies!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

sick day

Today was a sick day.

We spent the day doing all of the sick day things....you know, like watching WAY too many cartoons so Mommy could still get some work done?

When the Tylenol kicked in, we painted pictures...

...and when it wore off, it was back to the couch.
 When baby gal got home, she made sure to check on him {so lovingly} every, OH, minute or so.
Now we're on our way to the doctor...the tonsils that appear to be swollen shut are too much to handle.

{Update: Strep Throat x 2 for the Hoversons....
good thing I had baby gal checked just because she was there!}

Friday, January 14, 2011

his uniform

This is pretty much a staple wardrobe for Mr. J in the evening when he gets home from pre-school...
Underwear and a stocking hat.
A battle I refuse to fight.  It's winter, we have to stay inside...there could be worse things.

His uniform unless his Mom decides to grab his hat and bribes him with kisses to get it back.
{That's my favorite part...}
And please don't be horrified of that woman with no make-up on...I'm not sure who that scary person is either.

I tried to get one of his sister, too...but clearly she wasn't havin' it.
{Yep, those are her fingers}
And I WONDER where all those grubby little fingerprints on my lens come from. Hmmmmm......

Thursday, January 13, 2011

surprise!

January seems to be the month o' birthdays. In college, it was a week of fun but as we get older it gets harder to celebrate.
One of my besties, Beth, was one of the few birthdays this week. Her hubby e-mailed me about a surprise party, and I was so excited.
Even though we live less than 45 minutes apart, I see her WAY less often than I would like.

The party was fun, she was SO surprised.
A tinge of the flu for our driver cut the party short for a few of us, but we were still excited to be able to celebrate with her.


Happy Birthday, Beth!!

 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

a love letter

Tonight, Brad is working late. Really late, I'll be in bed before he gets home, I'm almost sure of it.

So, since I won't be able to see him, I left him a little love letter...


What can I say, he's learning to be a great handy man!
{I can already just hear him grumbling when he reads this}

aunt rae and uncle b

Have I ever told you how much I LURVE being an Aunt?  Oh, I have? My bad.  Well, I do.
I love having little people running around my house like a circus.  Not much brings me more pleasure than that.  
Jacks would call Jess every day and ask her when the kids can come over if he could.

We not only love them, but have SO.MUCH.FUN with them, too.  Here are a few random happenings from the last few visits:

Tater getting good use out of the gun Brad and Pete got from Grandpa Scott. Can't you just see the determination to hit Uncle B?
Our little tigers.  I'm not sure why, but as soon as Beckers walks in the door, he and Jacks immediately start talking "tiger" to each other.

When I was giving Finster a bath one night, I took the shampoo and made a faux-hawk.  Pretty typical evening in the tub for us.  Well, tate thought it would be really cool if I could make one for him.  A few rubber bands later, and we had one rockin' faux.  
Soon after, I was searching high and low for enough bands for everyone to have their own hairdo 
{keep in mind, Tate was WAY too cool to let me have evidence that he was in fact the first to want one...}

Poor Pete, his high and tight hair just BARELY fit some tiny spikes...
Tee hee.  Cracks me up. It looks like when I tried to fit them in Fin's hair for Christmas.
And how does this little man not melt your heart!?  Oh, how he makes me smile.

I love how girlie girl this little lady can be.  A girl of my own heart, wanting to play dress-up at 11:00pm.  Those are some big boots to fill, Aves.
{pic was taken on B's phone, sorry for the blurriness...}
Thank goodness with three shoe-loving aunties, she'll have a size to fit her someday!!

And can I just tell you how much fun it is to buy girlie things??  I mean, just LOOK at how these shoes scream my name, and in turn, Aves' too...


Plus a matching headband!?  Hello, heaven.  And hello, a MUST purchase for the little gal.  She didn't take them off the whole night.  Even to wear them home....when it had snowed about a foot that day. Fashion over function, that's our motto!  Just ask my Dad when he talks about whether any of his girls wear "sensible" shoes for a long day out and about.

{side note, is she not GORGEOUS!?}

Yep, being an auntie is the best.

But don't worry my kiddos, I love being your Mom more :)

Monday, January 10, 2011

jingle bells

FINALLY some catch-up posts.  The longer I put these off the harder it was to think about putting them up.  And the more and more photos that ended up on my computer.  Holy overwhelming.  So here goes, these will be either short and sweet or super long-winded.  I'm not sure which quite yet :)

Christmas Eve is always SUPER busy for us.  We start the morning in Mankato with the Reiter side of the family.

This year we actually got a photo all together!  It is very rare that everyone is in the same room, which made it even more exciting.

{l-r: Brad, Jacks, Rach, Brad's brother Tony, Finster, Grandma Gail, Grandpa Arnie, Grandma Deb, Grandpa Scott, Brad's sister Nicky, and her fiance Eric}

From Mankato, we head straight to Hector for church.  Growing up, Christmas Eve service was always one of my favorites.  I love that it's getting dark out, Christmas music, the whole deal.  The issue is, with little ones who have just spent over an hour in the car, the LAST thing my littles want to do is sit still during church.  So typically either Brad or I send it in the church basement.  This year, it was our whole family.  Sitting in the basement, listening to beautiful Christmas music.  SOME DAY we will sit through that service.  The whole thing.  Some day. {Sigh...}

When we got back to the farm, we have a nice dinner and take family pictures.
I was shocked that we got this one from my little fam:
Because they typically end up looking more like this {or is this just how pictures FEEL these days??}:

With a crew as large as the Peterson clan, getting a family photo is getting harder and harder, but we really enjoy looking at them and seeing the funnies that ensue.  Kasey's boyfriend Brady took them this year instead of a tri-pod, so the entertainment was at least good!

Two of my favorite parts of this picture:
The fact that Jacks has his feet OVER Tate's shoulders, and of course his socks are gone.
My large-in-charge hairdo is officially covering my Mom's bottom half of her face.

I have about two hundred more pictures, but I will spare you the small details.  I hope you had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, yo.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

preparation

I don't have all of my pictures uploaded yet...so we'll have to make due with a few that are a little bit older.

Here's what we did to prepare for Christmas, you know...all of the important stuff.

The boys played outside....
...and the girls watched from the cozy house.

We ate candy canes in the tub...
...the only place that littles should have them, if you ask me!

We fell asleep waaaaaaaaaaiting for Christmas to come.
Jacks said his first Christmas piece {or is it peace?} Hmmmm...either way, he did great.

And we made lots and lots of cookies...

It is so much fun now that Jacks "get" the Christmas season.  And Brad loves the fact that he'll sing "It's the most wonderful time of the year" every day ALL DAY during the holidays.
 
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