Wii or Weed?

Well, the Knudson's have joined millions of others and gotten a Wii. For those of you who have been living under a rock and don't know what a Wii is ... it's a game system where you hold a remote in your hand and play games like golf, baseball, bowling, etc ... and the game responds to your actual arm/hand movements. It's pretty cool!

Well, Riley knows all about the Wii because Shelley (daycare) has one and the older kids get to play with it. We were sitting at dinner last night talking about it and he said, "Maybe sometime Wyatt can come over and play with our weed." :)

So yeah, we've been working on making sure he doesn't add that "d" at the end.

A Rambling Post ...

WOW! So much to catch up on in here! Just like everyone else, it's been busy around the Knudson household. Ryan's been working on a school project quite a bit. Riley's been playing outside. Paige has been throwing fits when she can't be outside. And mom has been working on a lot of photography sessions.

Some random updates on everyone ...

Riley
Mr. Riley has really been amazing me lately. While he still has his moments, he's really been so well behaved. When he's in the mood he's such a helpful little boy. And really, I have to gush about how he is with Paige. It's obvious that he loves her to death ... calling her "sweetie pea" in a high pitched voice, sharing toys with her, helping her with her coat ... complete with zipping it up, giving her hugs and kisses ... I could go on and on. Watching them interact has been one of the greatest joys of being a parent so far.

He's also got a memory that blows me away. The other day we were out on his swingset when he reminded me that Wyatt (neighbor boy) got the same pool as him ... but Wyatt's is yellow and white and his is blue and white. Huh? That was like 10 months ago! But he continues to do it ... pulling random facts out of the air. Ha ha.

He only has about 7 or 8 classes left of his first year of pre-school. I'm not quite sure where the year went. While there have been a couple mornings where we've had to encourage and remind him that he WILL have a fun day at school, he's really enjoyed it. His teachers are just the sweetest things. Mrs. S, his main teacher, has just the right amount of firmness with the kids while still making the day fun and Mrs. Stellner is a big softie. She's pulled me aside on numerous days to tell me that she thinks Riley is such a joy to have in class and that him and his big brown eyes are very sweet ... at which point I look around to make sure there isn't some other parent of a Riley standing next to me ... because she isn't really talking about Riley Arthur is she? :) Last week we went to Family Fun Night which was a fundraiser for school. It was so neat to see him talk with classmates/friends.

Coming up at the end of June, the church I work at will be holding a week long Vacation Bible School. This is the first year he's old enough to go so I think we'll be signing him up. It'll be fun to bring him to work with me and be able to see him walking around the halls for half the day. He thought it was pretty cool that he'd be able to come to work with me too.

Paige
Paige is a very stubborn 18 month old. She is very much into testing her boundries and exlporing all that is around her.

One thing that is pretty cute and I find her doing often ... smiling at herself in the mirror. It's the funniest darn thing. When I'm doing her hair in the morning she'll look at her reflection (she can barely see over the faucet) and smile one way ... giggle. Smile another way ... giggle. Smile the first way again ... pause ... giggle. I remember my sister talking about how much time my niece, Katelyn, would spend in the bathroom ... I'm thinking we have Katelyn 2.0 on our hands. :)

Speaking of doing her hair ... it's growing as you'll see in the pictures below. We can now do partial pigtails on the sides or have it half up on top of her head. And once we have piggies or a pony in, we HAVE to put pretties in. She loves to have a bow clip or curlie ribbons put in and then goes to show daddy how pretty she is. She's all girl on that subject!

We have another outdoor lover on our hands ... which we're happy about ... but it makes going inside for dinner or a nap kind of hard. She loves putting her head back and watching the clouds go by while on her swing. She's a bit of a dare devil and will climb the slide to get up to the clubhouse of the swingset since she's too small to go up the ladder.

She's also a social butterfly. Numerous times we've either been on a walk or in the front yard when someone passes by and Paige's little hand goes up and she repeatedly says, "Hi! Hi! Hi!". And if this person has a dog ... Paige runs to them. She's a HUGE lover of dogs and thinks she should be able to pet and kiss all of them. The poor beagle at the house behind us gets attacked with Paige smooches and hugs all the time.

Ryan and Kristin
We've each been busy as well. Ryan has a monster of a class project going on right now that will be over and done with this weekend. He's looking forward to the beginning of August when he'll be done with classes for now. All he'll have left before he graduates is one class next spring. It'll be different, in a nice sort of way, to have daddy/my husband back ... no worries of homework or school over the weekend ... no needing to think about whether it's a school weekend before we commit to something. And I'm positive he's going to enjoy all of those things as well.

Me ... well, I've been a shooting fool. I had a little rush of sessions in the past few weeks. Even though I had sessions backed up for proofing, it was still fun. I'm so happy that I've found something that I have such a passion for and while I may not be where I want to be talent-wise, I know I'm getting better and that really pumps me up. I only have two and a half weeks until I second shoot my first wedding ... and depending on the day I'm either really psyched to do it or a big ball of nerves. Ha ha.

Okay, on to pictures ... these are from last week. Riley got a set of golf clubs for his birthday (daddy's choice) and he's been working on his "form".

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 ...

Busy, Busy!!

Just like everyone else, we've been busy!! Gosh, I honestly don't even know where to start!

We had an excellent Valentines Day. My mom had been generous enough to take care of the kids the Friday before so Ryan and I could head out to dinner by ourselves. We went to a new place in town called HuHot. YUM ... it was so good! Since we'd been out by ourselves already, we invited my mom over for dinner the night of Valentines Day. Riley talked her ear off ... there's something about my mom that makes him just talk nonstop. I've noticed it the past few times we've been over to her house. :)

The big news in our house right now is that Riley's birthday is in two weeks. He'll soon be 4!! My gosh where has the time gone. His latest "thing" is picking out his own clothes. Last Friday he wore green running pants, light blue socks with tractors on them and a blue spiderman long sleeved shirt topped with a white/blue/red dirt bike short sleeved shirt. I couldn't help but smile when I looked at him. We met Leah and her two kiddo's for dinner at McDonalds that night since both daddy's were gone at work/school and I casually mentioned that he'd picked out his own clothes so she didn't think I was losing it.

Miss Paige is becomming such an independent little person. She likes doing tasks. When we get home from being out, she takes her hat/mittens off and puts them in the correct basket. She likes throwing things away (but confuses the hamper in her bedroom and the garbage so you really need to watch her). And in the past week or so she's discovered that if she stands on the stool in the bathroom she can see herself in the mirror. Even better ... if she does it while mom is getting ready in the morning, she can reach mom's make-up brushes. :) She grabs my blush brush and pretends to put it all over her face and then we all tell her how pretty she is. She thinks she's hot stuff.

A word update on Miss Paige ... she now says hot, daddy, mommy, puppy, uh oh, done and hi. Her three favorite words are daddy, puppy and hi. Daddy we hear quite a bit ... she knows she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger and uses that to her advantage. Puppy ... she adores Pumba and shows her affection with some slaps to his head. And hi ... well, for a while she'd look at you and say, "hi!" over and over and in just about every voice tone that she had. It was pretty cute.

I've got a pretty big weekend coming up. I'm going to a little photographers get together in Chicago Feb 29-March 2. The wonderful Krystal Muellenberg and Kate Crafton are just two of the gals I'm hoping to bombard with my photography questions. I feel like I've already learned a ton from them without even meeting them face to face ... I have a feeling that after this weekend with them I'm going to be either amazed at everything I learned or depressed about how much I still NEED to learn. And as a side note, Krystal has offered to let me second shoot three weddings with her this summer in LaCrosse. I'm super pumped about everything happening with my photography and hope that this is really a time of growth for me.

And just because I hate posting without pictures ... here are two for you ...

Riley and daddy when we did a little snowshoeing in Goosebury Falls State Park.

Could these lips BE any bigger? LOL