A girl can dream...

Photo borrowed from: http://www.livinglocurto.com

The last few weeks I've been looking at more house plans. Dan and I REALLY want to build a new house. Dan is seriously hoping to break ground this fall. I came across this picture today and fell in love! Not that we'd ever be able to afford a room like this but isn't it awesome?!?!?! I imagine this room to be an upstairs bonus room where we'd keep craft supplies as well as our kid toys. I also love the cork flooring! The whole room just makes me smile!!

A room like this is definitely not in our budget and I'm a much more practical person than this. I can still dream, right? Ohhh my goodness would I love to get my hands on those shelves!! I would be in organizing heaven!!!!!

OK...I've come down from my cloud and I'm back to reality. RATS! :)

One more quick update... Kalvin has been a sleeping champ! He's been sleeping a solid 11 hours at night PLUS two 2hour naps in the day. I've been so bored lately! I need a hobby!

Kalvin LOVES Vera!

Vera is so gentle with Kalvin... and Kalvin is not very gentle with her! She will sit through any and all of Kalvin's rough pets. I seriously can't keep these two apart! They are like magnets!

Here's my photo-shoot from this morning:

And a very Happy 33rd Birthday to my oldest sister, Shawn!!! Love you!!

A normal Tuesday morning...

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here's what's happening here right now:

Kalvin is still pointing at everything!

Poor Vera is getting her lips pinched by Kalvin. She's so sweet that she doesn't seem to mind.

Kalvin is being silly and doing mouth toots/blowing bubbles.

YAY, Vera calmed down and is finally laying and not trying to lick Kalvin!

My Busy Baby Boy!

Kalvin loves his room with his music playing and all his fun toys! He's gotten so busy lately that it's getting harder to take a smiling picture of him!! He's always on the move! Here are some pictures of Kalvin playing! I had to unattach this toy from his crib because he was waking up early from naps and night-time just to play with it! Silly boy!

He has now started pointing at things! The things he loves pointing at include: his toys, his food, and our puppy!!

Oh, you know I can't resist these chubby fingers! (and this awesome vintage toy!!)

Where is spring???

The sun is shining!! However,it would be more beautiful if THESE--------> weren't in the way of my view!

Aren't they creepy??

I think I need spring...NOW!!

Roller Derby!

This weekend Dan and I decided we needed out of our house!! We thought it was the perfect weekend to visit out friends in South Dakota. We invited ourselves over and tagged along with them :) I didn't take too many pictures but I did get a few from the Roller Derby game we went to! Kalvin was a little unsure of the noise and all the people at first but I think he really enjoyed it too! Then we went back to their house and played a competitive game of SpongeBob Monopoly.

We had a great time and can't wait to see our friends again! They were such gracious hosts!! Our visits seem to be getting fewer and further between...I hope we can change that!

Here are the roller derby pics:

Theresa and Kalvin enjoying the action!

Don't they look so thrilled?? I swear...we really did have fun!!!! hehe!

See! There's a smile! We were having fun!

One more quick note: Kalvin slept through the night for the first time Friday night!!! He is loving his crib! He slept from 9:00pm-7:15am!!! Our little baby is growing up!

My latest confession/obsession...

No pictures right now because Kalvin is napping :) I feel like I have so much more free time when I'm not struggling to put Kalvin to sleep all day! This is great!!

I have a bit of a confession/obsession that I've been meaning to share... Lately I've really felt the need to de-clutter my life and try to use things up so can throw it away. I've always done this to a certain extend but lately it has become almost a game. ha ha! Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about...

• Wearing my socks that are almost wore through so I can discard them and clear out my drawer. I won't buy more socks until I've used up the ones I already have! Even if this means I'll have to wear the snoopy socks Dan got my for Xmas one year...
• Wearing underwear I don't like just to 'wear them out'.
• Burning candles all day/every day.
• Combining kitchen and pantry items to make less clutter
• Putting on lotion everyday...not because my skin is dry but because I have way too many lotions!
• Same with body spray! I've been wearing body spray that's about 10 years old just to use it up because I just can't get rid of it until it's gone!
• I've also been using the body spray as room freshener :)
• I've even started paying closer attention to packaging before I buy something. Less waste is always better.
• the list goes on and on and on...

I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I can finally throw something away! But I can't throw away anything that might have a use someday! (Hence the reason why I can't seem to toss the burned up candle jars!!!) Don't get me wrong...I'm not a hoarder. All my things have a very specific spot and I know where everything lives! (organization is my other obsession!!)

Maybe this all stems from becoming super frugal since I don't have a job. Maybe being frugal and saving us money IS my job?!?!?! :) You read how excited I was about rummage saleing for stuff for Kalvin. I definately can't wait for this spring and summer to see what other good things I can find! hehe!

Ok...I'll stop there. I'm weird...I know! Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and an even more wonderful weekend!!!

8 Months!

I can't believe Kalvin is already 8 months old! It has been so fun to see him change so much in the last month. He now has TWO teeth! (He woke up with a new one this morning!) He can crawl all over the place. He smiles at everyone! He can baby babble and say dadadadada :)! I can't wait to see what new things he does in the next month! Everyday is just so much fun!

For the past 8 months, Kalvin's been co-sleeping with us which has worked out great. I was able to basically feed him while I was still sleeping and tend to him without having him cry in the night (Dan gets up super early for work!) Just recently, we all started not sleeping well. I think we were just getting too tight in our queen-size bed!

I decided yesterday was the day to start sleep training. He needs to learn to fall asleep in his own bed. Kalvin has been doing great in his own room the last 2 days. He cries for a tiny bit when I first lay him down and then calms down within minutes. This afternoon he napped for 3 hours!!!! WHOO HOO!

I tried to take my monthly picture but I think we may have to call it quits...Kalvin is just too squirmy now and he REALLY wants to crumble that paper up he second I set him there. He makes me laugh :) Instead...I thought I'd take some 8 month pictures of his new pearly whites!

Aren't those pretty cute teeth???

SNOW DAY!

Here's an update on whats been going on in the Prieve house...
Kalvin has been crawling all over the place! He can really entertain himself with exploring. Yesterday he found Vera's water dish...hmmmm looks like I'll need to do some childproofing. I also need to invest in some baby-gates to separate the baby and the puppy so they can both wander freely. If they are together...Kalvin's face gets licked so much that he can't move!

Yep...That's another snake...making the count: THREE!!! They have all been found in Kalvin's room wrapped around extension cords. Last night I went in to Kalvin's room to get him all ready for bed and found this one. I yelled down to Dan to get the gloves and the bag because we had another snake. All he yelled back was "Yeah Right!!". Why would I joke about that?? haha! I must admit...the first one was scary and the last two have actually been pretty funny because we still can't believe we have so many snakes in the house!! It's soooo weird!

While he was trying to pull the snake off the extension cord, Dan broke off the last few inches of the snake's tail. That's what that piece in the bottom right corner is! He put it in the bag and left it in our entryway. It was pouring rain and he didn't want to go outside. He was planning to kill it this morning.

Then we woke up to this!! We knew we were supposed to get 1-3 inches...but we had no idea we'd get THIS much snow. Dan is actually home from work today. He tried to leave and the roads were so bad he had to turn around! He went about 5 miles and it took him over 40 minutes! When the roads are good, his drive takes him an hour! He didn't think it was worth it to risk his life! I agree!

YAY for a snow day!! Boo for having to use a day of vacation on this yucky weather! SPRING, WHERE ARE YOU?????

Kalvin's Little Friend!

Kalvin and I had a little visitor for a few hours yesterday! One of my friends had a meeting to attend so we watched her daughter, Annabelle, for a bit! She's only 2 1/2 weeks younger than Kalvin so it's fun watching them play together.

As you can see from Kalvin's face...he was soooo excited to have her over to play!!!

He REALLY liked her pacifier! He's never liked his very much but when someone else has it...suddenly it's awesome!! Kalvin's hair looks much more orange when he's next to someone with brown hair!

Still holding on tight to her paci!!

OHHH YEAH...KALVIN CAN CRAWL NOW!!!!! He just officially started yesterday morning and he's really good at it already!

I think they will be good friends! (it's SUPER hard getting a good picture of 2 squirmy babies!!)

Now what to do today while it's raining...

Snake Count = 2!!!!!!!

While I was changing Kalvin's diaper yesterday, I looked by the garbage can where the snake was the other day. I was VERY surprised that there was ANOTHER one in that exact same spot!!!!!!!! Kalvin's room must be the perfect snake hide-out! We can't figure out if they like the smell of Kalvin's garbage?? or if they like cuddling up to a cord we have back there because it's kind of warm??? Either way...GROSS!!

This time Dan was home so he had the privilege of disposing of it!! Dan didn't mind me documenting with the camera so here you go:

It was a quick one (like the last one!) but Dan caught it!

I made him pose with it :) That's not a normal gallon size bag either! It's a jumbo- size 2.5 gallon bag! I measured and our snake friend was about 20 inches long. You may be thinking...ohhhh that's just a small one. Well....How many snakes have you had in your house in the last week??? Yeah...see...this one is bigger than yours :)

Last Spring and Summer we had TONS of snakes outside. Dan probably killed over 100 of them (but they were all outside!!) He was always really grossed out by them! It's funny that with a pair of gardening gloves, a ziploc bag, and a camera...Dan can get so brave!!

. Just a little more posing with te snake and then he brought it outside and killed it with a spade...this one wont be coming back in!!

I always make Dan do all the worst jobs around the house. I made him catch the swooping bat in our bedroom at 2am...he's taken about 10 mice out of traps, killed the nastiest spiders, and now we can add snake removal to that list! Seriously...WHAT'S NEXT!?!?

Kalvin's New Shoes!

Kalvin and I had a crazy busy/good day yesterday! We woke up early and headed the ECFE kids rummage sale in Cokato. We were there by 8:45am and loaded up on some good steals! I ALWAYS love getting a good deal and this was extra fun because it was ALL children's stuff!

After the rummage sale we visited my mother-in-law at the school she teaches at. They had an open-house for parents looking for preschools. Kalvin won't be in that boat for a few years but it was fun to visit and check out the place.

THEN...A friend and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Our kids loved playing together in their highchairs! It is awesome having a friend (and a sister!) with a child the same age as Kalvin!

After lunch Kalvin and I headed to my in-laws house. We visited them and also hung out with Dan a bit while he was working in the shop. We didn't get home until 8:30 last night!! Gone for 12 hours! It was a long day but Kalvin was good the whole time!

Below are some pictures I took last night of Kalvin's new fancy pants shoes that we got at the rummage sale!! They are brand new and will be just the right size while he's learning to walk! It was the purchase I was most excited about! I've been looking for a pair of good shoes for Kalvin. I keep reading how important that first pair of shoes are for their developing feet so this was perfect!!! He loves them too!

Also in the pictures are some of Kalvin's new (to us!) toys! We also got him some clothes in the next size up. These good deals get me super excited for garage-sale season to start!!!

Hope your Saturday was as great as ours!! Today it's rainy so it's a perfect day to stay inside!!

SNAKE...IN OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

That's right... you read the title correctly! A nasty slithery snake was on the second level of our house!

I had just put Kalvin down for a nap so I was sneaking quietly out of the bedroom. I looked and there was a snake at the top of the stairs looking at me! I screamed (naturally...because I'm a girl and I was scared...) and I woke Kalvin up who was now screaming too! While I was debating what to do (my cellphone, computer, and camera were all downstairs!!!!) the snake slithered away!!!!!!!!!! I searched around and found it hanging out in Kalvin's room so I shut the door and put a towel under the door. (Pretty stupid plan..I know...but it was the best I could think of at the time!)

I was officially freaked out and the only thing I could do was leave the house! So I made a trip to Target to clear my head and gather my thoughts. Target is always a great place to go when getting away from snakes!

I talked to my parents for a long time about what to do and how to get this critter out of my house. We decided I would call the police department! Here are some pictures from my day:

Here's Kalvin all ready to go to Target! He loves browsing too!!

When I came home, the snake was coiled around an outlet behind the garbage can in Kalvin's room!

The nice police man got it out...with the help of his son's hockey stick, a pillow case, and a pair of my garden gloves!


Yep...that's the snake dangling in his hand! I really wanted to take pictures of him removing it from the room but I refrained until his back was turned and he was outside :) hehe!

Bubble Wrap!

I can't believe it's Friday again! Hope you all have something fun planned for the weekend. I'm hoping that Dan and I are able to go on a {much needed} date night. We'll see if that actually happens!

I'm also planning to bring the recycling in to town today! I dread doing it but while driving away it always feels so freeing! (yeah...I know...I'm weird!)

I received a package in the mail yesterday and Kalvin was very intrigued with the bubble wrap! He played with it for probably a half-hour! I love how the pictures turned out! He looks so proud of that fun toy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!!

Hope everyone is sporting their green attire today! I'm still wearing my jammies from last night but you better believe that I'll be wearing green after my shower!

I even turned Vera's picture green for the Irish holiday :) (Doesn't she sit really funny???)

Kalvin and I took a trip to the library yesterday. I found it soooo overwhelming! I just wanted someone to hand me a grab-bag of books so I didn't have to pick them out! I mostly picked out classics I already knew because that was easier! Kalvin thought the books were really fun...

...Until he squished his thumb in one of the board books! Poor Baby!!

He's been practicing moving around a lot...which means he's having a hard time relaxing for naps and bedtime because he's sooo busy!! I have a feeling it will get much worse before it gets better!!