Remember this?

Remember when we had this happen at my work last year?

Guess who's back? :) I'm thinking I'll have more ducky pictures this year. For the past few days she's been on the hunt for a good spot to make a nest in the courtyard again.

Vocab Update ...

An update on the words Paige is saying ... she's now added "cracker" and "backpack" to her list. She also says "eese" ... which I think is for both "cheese" and "please".

Enter at your own risk, Easter Bunny!

Hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Easter and was found by the Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny did make it to our house, thankfully ... but we should have left him a note on the door that said "Enter at your own risk!"

After a few long days of Miss Paige being really sick, we found out on Saturday morning that she tested positive for Influenza B. Both Ryan and I, as strange as it may sound, were happy to hear that it was "just" influenza. They'd been looking for strep throat, a UTI, an obstructed bowel, and had done chest x-rays on her ... so hearing that it would get better in a few days was actually good news! Unfortunately, Riley also has it. But we're hoping that they're both on the upswing ... Paige was running around like a wild woman yesterday which is 180 degree difference from a two days ago and Riley's temp is hovering around normal to 101 instead of the 102-103 that it had been on Saturday.

































































































Before Riley got sick we thought that him and I would still be able to sneak out and go to the Easter Egg Hunt at my work. Well, that obviously didn't happen. Riley was so sad about missing the hunt AND missing out on Easter Brunch with his cousins ... so we did an Easter egg hunt at home instead. It certainly perked him up for a good 30 minutes or so.


















































































































Sunday morning we discovered that the Easter Bunny HAD been here. He came in through the patio door ... thanks to the snow we can see his tracks across the deck. He left a basket of candy/cracker type stuff for each of them .. plus a few extras! Riley was even more excited when Grandma Karen showed up (she was brave for coming into the germ house) with ANOTHER basket for each of them that the Easter Bunny had left at her house!

So there you have it .... our strange Easter. It felt really weird not going anywhere and not really having a big meal here. But I guess it is what it is.

Three Knudson facts/stories for the price of one ...

#1 ... Some of you have heard this story already but I still have to have it here for ME to remember in a year or two ...

I picked Riley up from daycare on Thursday and Shelley was smirking at me. She told me she'd heard an interesting story that day ... Riley told her that my "boyfriend" lived in the country. EEK! Stop ... what was that? Yes, it seems as if Riley told Shelley that my boyfriend "Jim" lived out in the country. After a little digging and some more info from Riley ... like the fact that his daddy's "girlfriend" Auntie Tammy lived in the cities ... she realized that Riley actually meant that my BROTHER Jim lived in the country. I was glad to get that one straightened out. :)

#2 ... Paige had a new word this weekend ... cracker. She's rather proud of herself too and likes to give you five after saying it.

#3 ... Is there something wrong when your 4 year old fits into your 17 month old daughters sweatshirt? Or should I forget about it fitting and worry more about the fact that Riley put this on all on his own with no prodding from me?






























Happy St. Patty's Day!

Busy Saturday ... Lazy Sunday!

As of today (party at daycare) I think all the birthday celebrations will finally be done and over with. Saturday we had a house full of people for Riley's family party.

Riley had a GREAT time and was spoiled with tons of gifts. He's opened and played with every single thing he was given already ... the kid's in heaven! It was great to have everyone together again. (And yes, that was his invitation.)

I only got a couple pictures. That seems to be the way it goes ... I get so busy trying to talk to everyone or make sure there's enough food out that I forget to pick up my camera. I'm seriously thinking about offering a photography package where I'd come and shoot your child's birthday party. I know I'd like someone to come and do that for me. Ha ha.

We crashed after everyone left the party. Grandma and Grandpa Knudson left early Sunday morning and we didn't do much of anything the whole day. It was nice!


Paige warmed back up to her usual self by Sunday afternoon. She'd just been "off" all weekend long. She didn't even want to sit and eat dinner on Friday night when we went out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa K. For those of you who know Paige, THAT'S unusual. Anyway, her and daddy were playing around on our bed (and eventually, Riley wanted to know where we'd all disappeared to and got in on the action) and I got a few cute pictures ...











ETA ~ If you can't see, her shirt says, "Princess in training, waiting for my crown." How TRUE!

Chicago Recap ...

I've gotten a couple of e-mails from people asking how my weekend in Chicago went so I thought I'd make note of it on here. For those of you who don't know, I got an amazing opportunity to head to the Windy City for a weekend and shoot with a great group of gals ... who just also happen to be great photographers.

We had two bridal shoots, one engagement/couple shoot and a double kid shoot ... all in one day. It was very tiring but it was something I'd do again in a heartbeat! I just can't express how blessed I am to have spent a weekend with these ladies.

To see a (very small) sample of some of the stuff I shot you can go to http://www.knudsonphotoanddesign.zenfolio.com/ and click on the "Chicago" folder. That's not even the tip of what I shot though. I just haven't had enough time to edit. I'll post four of my favorites below ...

Yes, we really did make her get up on the grass median on Michigan Ave. It was hilarious to hear all the things being shouted at her from people walking/driving by.

Bye Bye 3!

Four. FOUR!! Can you believe it? Today my oldest "baby" turned FOUR! The past year was one of change for Riley ... the biggest one being preschool. We had a conference with the teacher on Monday to go over his progress ... and she had great things to say about him. There were some things she mentioned where I was wondering if she was really talking about MY Riley ... but other things were so dead on it wasn’t even funny ... like his talkative personality. Ha ha. Yes, he can talk to anyone until he’s blue in the face.


I tried to make today special for him. We went out to the mall and he and Paige got to play in the children’s area. He got his favorite, mac-n-cheese, for lunch. I made him a cake that HE got to load up with sprinkles. He got to pick where we went out for dinner ... McD’s ... obviously. And while we were sitting there eating, I looked at Ryan and said, "Let’s take him bowling!" We have a place right down the road ... why not? So we stopped by home for mom to get her camera ... and we surprised him by going bowling. The little fart did pretty well. He even picked up a spare in the 10th frame. If you look at the last picture, you’ll see the scores ... He was the top one, mom was the middle and Ryan was the bottom one on the screen. Daddy was a little worried after Riley picked up that spare that Riley might beat him.

What Paige did during most of the bowling experience ...