December..

Well December and well November have flown by.. We celebrated our first Christmas in Kansas.. All day in our pj's playing and eating!!

 

The day after Christmas we went to Pete's mom's for the day. His brother Chance and our sister-in law Lori have 3 kids and our kids love LOVE,LOVE playing with thier cousins!! There is never a dull moments with the kids. It really makes hoildays so fun. One day Lori and I will be able to finish converstations agian when they are older!!  We have been all boys but now have added 2 girls so its fun navigating thru Girl world togethor!!

This a quick shot of our new floors Pete is installing this week. The white thing is piece of plastic that didnt get pciked up. But this is the hall looking into the formal living area. The hall, laundry room,kitchen, family room and formal living area are all getting these floors. Yea,lots of projects for us!! I got a new laptop from Santa.. my other one went to laptop heaven!! much easier to post blogs from a computer that works!!

Happy New YEAR!!

November so far...

Kids on rainy day!!

Ryan and his trains, He loves them still and know all of thier names. Yea, Thomas and Friends took over the house and looks like they arent going anywhere anytime soon.

Well our remodeling was really kicked into gear, when we discovered water leak.. so bring on the painting..

My craft room  :( hopefully I will get to resume craft making soon. The house is quite chaotic at the moment. I hope to paint and then post pics of a great new rooms,LOL.lol!!

Friends...

The last three weekends I have gotten to spend time with my main friend base.. This has been so encouraging since I feel like Kansas is a friend desert. It takes time to build friendships and since we have been gone most weekends with farming (Agco has Pete working 60 to 70 hrs a week) this has left not much time for friendship building.. 

Tonya and her kids came to visit at the farm! She is an amazing spiritual leader and encourager and great mommy friend, also my go to on excerise and diet.. yea she has three kids but ya cant tell.. great decorator and organizer too..

Then last weekend I got to scrapbook with some of Stillwater friends!

This is Suzanne- my ex neighbor and closest friends. Our kids played togethor all the time, we have 6 years of awesome memories and have still managed to make more despite the distance now. One of our favorite things to do was go to the movies when its icey and nasty outside and escape the craziness of our couped up families! We also worked out togethor,shopped, went to church togethor and of course scrapbooked!

Here's the group!

Liz and I met at college- Noc days. My roommate at the time cousins were killed in a car accident right after her parents dropped her off and Liz was a peer counselor that was sent in to counsel my roommate.We have been friends for over 11 years!! We make it a point to get togethor several times a year.. She is the most organized person I know!!

  This my crazy silly friend Melissa. We were pregnant togethor with our daughters and our sons are a year apart. We have alot in common with our families too! We were garage selling buddies on Friday mornings, Panera Bread and of course lots of unnecessary shopping trips..shh!! most of the time its really to get our kids energy out and sneak out with Suzanne and Melinda to the movies whenever we could.

Yesterday, I got to see Mindy and Caitlin. Two of my "oldest" friends.. Caitlin is a high school buddy and college roommate. We NEVER remember to take a pic togethor. thats why there is no pic of her.. This is an old pic of Mindy holding Lily as a newborn. I met her the summer of 1999 when I worked at Falls Creek. We got to see Caitlin's new house and eat yummy mexican food.. one of our fav things to do!!

My friendship cup is boiling over at the moment!! Thank goodness!! It was a really a blessing to see familar faces and enjoy laughs, It was much needed!!

Ryan is 4... whew that Was fast..

I can remember the day he was born detailed more than  I remember my wedding day and graduations. That sweet baby in the picture kept me up from 2am to 5am most nights, We could set the clock in the evenings by when he would start and stop crying.

By this age he was showing that I am either really really happy or really not. But his BELLY laugh was contagious!! This was the age that Pete came home and Ryan was in the excauser and he said " aww. I want 5 kids he is soo fun.." You notice we only have 2 kids.. I told  him,well you can have the other ones.

This was the Ryan is into everything but takes fun pictures stage.

                                               He really did calm down once Lily was born. He has really sweet moments with her. When Lily is upset he sings Jesus Loves Me to her.Yep alot of the time he is the reason she is crying.. but she is a different post.

I love that he is older now, I love looking at his younger pics, but I wouldnt go back to those day for anything

He has such an enthusiam for life and the energy to go with it. His tempermant is a lot closer to balanced now.When he gets upset or really tired, he still takes awhile to wind down. However, He loves people and espically strangers so that makes outings very entertaining.. I am really enjoying watching him grow.. There was a time when I thought I would never have a baby so he is defianety an answer to alot of prayer..I always remember that on a bad day.. thankfully those are less and less now that he is older, its more like "moments" I am excited to see what he will grow up to be and do and who he will marry.. I hoping he wrecks his bike alot so he wont wreck his car... 

The Last Month..

Well I had Hoped to be one of those that posts everyday but yea, that is not going to happen. but maybe one day I will figure out how to post pics like all the savy tech moms out there.. dont hold ur breather so far I had to reload and edit this 4 times due to interupptions and well kids...

Last month we took our kids to California,on a plane!! and other than running thru the Denver airport like a crazy scene from a movie, they did really well on the planes.. Lily sat on my lap on the planes and took naps. Ryan played on his leapster most of the time.

California was a blast. Only a few minor hiccups- Like not getting there with Ryan's clothes for the wedding, that was fun.. Trying to find black slacks in September was a mess, however the local Salvation Army had a pair for under $4!(Lori was a lifesaver here too) oh and hotel reserverations ended in Porterville 6hrs before the wedding and the other was in a different town far away from the wedding... Thankfully my awesome sister-in- law Lori and (and Pete's brother Chance) helped out soo much!! Yep, 9 of us getting ready in a hotel room was fun!! We always laugh alot with them so we got really spoiled see them several days in a row. The whole reason we went there was for Trenton and Christi's wedding, which was beautiful and the reception was a BLAST!! (Lori and I were wrangling 5 kids during the ceremony)

However, I cant get the pictures from the top to the bottom, so bare with me as I still navitage this thing... Its great that now the Matthiesens have finally added some girls.. When I married Pete, the farm was dominated with boys that didnt shut doors when they went to bathroom, often forgot thier clothes when going from shower to thier rooms.. and now almost 9 years later with the additions of Lori,Christi,Lily and Lola, there is more of a balance!! YAY!

We also have been to the State Fair and an Apple Orchard!

Now we are planting wheat! (Well Pete is ) I am ready for the Farm stuff to slow down for the winter. I love the hustle and bustle of Harvest in June but I am ready to continue getting the 1970's out of this house.

2 weeks ago We got to see Melissa and Sam for a little bit.. It was nice to see familiar faces.. Even one that look that looks at the boys and says "Lets go find a snake" At first I didnt think she was serious but then I grabbed my camera just in time!!

Ok , so hopefully my posts wont be as long and not so far bewteen either! :)

visits

So visited Stillwater today. my old neighborhood. even sat in the front yard with my neighbor just like old times and kids played in the sprinkler for 3 hrs.. something u cant do in Newton cause the water bill is so HIGH!! but it didnt bother me to seee my old house this time. It doesnt feel like home anymore. It was wierd driving around town, brand new Taco Bell, McAlester's got a facelift and so did Red Lobster.. However, I dont miss the 20,000 college students that are driving around town, thank u very much I will take Newton anyday!!

Pete is laying immona down, has had two repairs that he has to do so he is gonna have to do another weekend of it most likely.. I enjoy farming however in August is when I am ready to be done... and we will still have to plant wheat, harvest milo and soybeans, so I have to be patient and pray that weather, and equipment go with the "plan" which is weekends since we now live 1hr 30 min from the farm. which I hope to start going to church regulary and getting plugged in and start to really know people in Newton, however I enjoy seeing my friends and some family on the weekends, it fills my cup that gets me thru the week..

I went looking for a dress for Trenton's wedding and all the fall clothes made me want to have fall weather.

well a little update would be nice,huh??

Well, the first three weeks here were really hard on the kiddos but now they have settled in well. We have found plenty of places to get out of the house (parks, library, walking trails and even a playdate!!) I actually met a mom at the library that attends the church we have gone to a few times(due to the typical summer farming season)and have met several places and are starting to get to know each other.. that is a blessing! I like this town, its got a small town feel but lots of neat things that the big college town didnt have like the "slow pace" feel of traffic and did I mention the walking paths??

Ryan starts preschool next month. I am so glad, he has lots of energy, but more importantly he really enjoys getting out and going places. I have a feeling that I am going to have push Lily out the door.. but until then I will enjoy her.. She sometimes makes sense when she talks and amongst the gibber gabber I will hear all of the sudden "I'm stuck", Shoes, Mine, and her favorite is thank you as she points to whatever it is she wants.. Ryan today told he couldnt find the instructions, which made me laugh cause its not like he could read them??

The house is coming along, I totally have ADD when starting projects, thanks some visits from friends have been able to focus better on one project at a time. I have greatly enjoyed visits from friends, it was hard to see them leave.

Farming is starting to slow down a little. well I say that but it really depends on the weather. We get to go to California in September for Trenton's wedding. We are soo excited!! Little nervous about the flight with 2 kids. I am hoping to have a fall garage sell and get the house painted. I have 18 gallons of paint that need to be used, ok well more like 15 now.. making progress, slowly in all areas but overall its been a good change for our family:)

Getting Settled

Well we have been in our new house about a month. I feel more at home day by day. I am defianelty overwhelmed by all the projects I wanna do but have been doing small ones here and there so that i can really get a vision for the rooms. I have met people here in town. Mostly at the park or walking to the park. Everyone walks in this town so thats really motivating. I want a bike for my bday. Pete and I used to bike all over then we graduated college and the other town we lived into didnt have all the neat bike paths this one does. I am thinking this town will make us SKINNY!!

I def think I was in a rut in our old town. I was pregnant, no energy, Pete got graves diease, had baby then Pete got laid off and our lifes already adjusting to changes completely flipped upside down. but now I feel stronger and I feel more like myself and actually creative. Pete is having hard time with his new job tho. Its ran alot differently than what he is used to and people in that area dont stay more than a year. So have lots to pray for him. He hates change tho, I love change. So expected him not to adjusted easy, just like Ryan..haha.. but Ryan does a little better everyday.

Endings..

Ughh.. I am having a hard time with this whole saying goodbye thing and this is last time I will do this or meet up with this person. For the majority of my life, I didnt miss anyone. When I went to camp for week as a child in the summer, I could have stayed all summer. but then I went to college and worked at Falls Creek the summer of 1999. It changed my heart all the walls I had built to keep my heart safe came tumbling done. It was also the summer that I started dating my best guy friend Pete. He changed everything about how I felt about guys and relationhips, I had seen so many of friends get hurt in high school, had listened to my mom when she told me about all her mistakes she had made as a teenager, that I was determined that I would be a career woman living in a big city like New york and work on holidays at a small store in my free time from big career cause i wouldnt be coming home to see family. And yep here I sit a stay at home mom of two (by choice and choosing to live frugual) and married for 8 1/2 years.every seen the movie "bed of roses" yeah, I related to her so much. Thankfully God put people in my life to love on me and show me how to be a vessel of God's love and not an angry teenager... fast foward to 2009, 10 yrs later.-- We had a crazy year with adding a 2nd "planned but not scheduled " baby, Pete having a thryiod diease and Pete getting laid off from mercuiser all within 2 mths of each other.. The support of friends that prayed, cried, called to check up on us, took off work to come help with kids, u name they did it.. it was hard to let people help me but I learned.. and then Pete got a job in Kansas.. I am so grateful for the provision God has given us but starting to grieve the loss of my friends being so close. Now, granted I have alot of f very , very close friends that I only see a couple times a year but these are the girls that I scrapbook with, go to the movies, garage sell, go for walks with, the park, zoo, call when our kids are sick and we need someone to chat with that can say sentences that are at our level... yay.. I want to really enjoy this last three weeks and treasure it all but a part of me would like to just quietly leave town and so there is no finality in goodbye.. cause of most convertsations end with see ya Sunday, or call me and we can figure out when to meet up... Yes, I am praying that God Provides me with friends there but I also know that it takes time to build healthy friendships.well the early am walk is startin to kick in-
Good night---
Prissypants

all those thoughts..

Well I have had so many thoughts in my brain about moving that I had thought about blogging, so I just kept thinking about and thinking about it and then two of my close friends set one up so I was like I am gonna do it. I have some many things going on in my brain. We are moving to a new state, 30 min away from where I grew up. before my mom's illness took over her life. Its wierd driving around that area.. memories flood my brain and I think of so much so I thought this would be a great way to keep those updated on our move. It may be serious somedays, it may be funny somedays or sad, but it alway be the thoughts in my brain..