happy 2nd birthday alysse!

Alysse has brought alot of light and life to our family since she has been born. She has tried me in ways that i didnt know were possible and at the same time has made me laugh harder than I ever have before. She is the funniest little thing...she is almost never in a bad mood, and loves to be the life of the party. We are so glad to have her in our lives, and cant wait to see what she will do in this next year. Happy Birthday Dede!!!

We decided instead of throwing her a big party that she probably wont even remember (yeah yeah she is kid number two...it happens) That we were just going to do her favorite things all day long! So I apologize in advance for the birthday attire...I know i will be hearing it from bella since i constantly rag on her for letting her kids run around naked...but whatever! One of alysse's fav things to play is"cooking" in her pool with my measuring cups. Several times a day I will find her out in the backyard fully clothed standing knee deep in the pool ...cooking. So I now just strip her down before she goes out. So on her birthday i just let her go for it and as you can see she was quite happy! after she was done in the pool we played real cooking and made her cupcakes for her special day. She loved the beaters but kept re-dipping them.

She Loved her cupcake and made a huge mess! She then opened her presents...and she sure loved her new "ner-nie " that she got from ashlyn. She also got a nemo bubble blower and a mini van to play family with from her nana! It was so cute to hear her squeal SLIDE as aaron brought it out of the garage! Both girls spent the rest of the night screaming and going up and down the slide!!!

Ashlyn's lost her first tooth!

So this major event has been on going for about the last month. She was at a friends house and was eating an apple as I came to pick her up.

As we got into the car she told me her tooth hurt so i looked and there was no cavity and she goes" look mom it is wiggly. " And sure enough it was!!! Well she wiggled and wiggled for weeks and every about two seconds it was "ouch! hey mom just broke a few more roots~! So about a week ago she was really working on getting it out because she wanted to get it out while my mom was here. And the next night her and aaron were sitting on the couch and she asked him to wiggle it to see how loose it was, and one little wiggle later...it was out. We were all very excited. we went to joann's and she picked out special fiary material and we made her a tooth bag...and that night the tooth fiary left her $15 bucks and a special note. Oh and I have to say about the amount is it pays to lose teeths when grandparents are around. i am just slightly worried that she will now expect that much everytime! But We now enter the akward phase with missing teeth and weirdness. either way i still think she is so cute...and she thinks she is soooo mature because she is one of the first kids to lose a tooth in her class. It was really cute to watch her go running up to her class line and pull down her lower lip and proudly display her tooth hole! iT WAS so dang cute!

MY HUGE project...the house!

Like promised in my last post I said I would fill everyone in our new house. We are still only renting since we will have absolutely NO intention of staying in detroit A MINUTE longer than we have to... but it is so much fun being in a house.

Both the kids have loved having an actual back yard! we thought it was really cool too until I had to actually mow it yesterday. it took me two hours and I was covered in dirt and grass. We have a nature preserve that backs up to the yard...ashlyn says it looks like the secret garden...and we have seen all kinds of fun animals back there I am just waiting to see some not so exciting animals...like snakes!!!

So every waking moment has been spent doing things to and with the house. My mom and I (really my mom) but i will prertend planted a garden. The kids are having fun watching things grow and watering. We planted some strawberries but alysse has yet one berry grow. as soon as she sees a berry green or red she picks it and throws it. So we will have to see if we actually have a decent berry to eat! But she loves to help water!!!

After planting the garden I got quite the green I want to plant things thumb and started planting flowers. So I planted flowers on the side yard and in fron of the house. And I am happy to say they have not died ....yet! I now the picture looks really exciting but it really is to me!!!

I also have slowly but surely been adding stuff to the inside of the house. We have four bedrooms now so the girls each got their own rooms. Ashlyn was so excited and i told her we would decorate it however she wanted. Well she picked a daisy garden room. It isnt done yet but we made some curtains and I thought they turned out really cute. And then took frames from her old room and added flowers to them to match every thing. The next thing we are going to do is make butterflies, and ladybugs to put up everywhere and picket fence. I will post it when it is all done. It might be a year from now but we will finish it

So far we have really enjoyed being here and It has kept me busy with constant projects...the next one is the basement!!! But we have loved every minute of it and are so happy to be out of the condo/apartment phase.

Our day at the park!

Life has been pretty crazy around here! We just moved into our new house!!! Which has been very exciting and very stressful...I will post about that later! So we decided to take a day of fun and spend it at the park enjoying the sunshine and a few snacks! The girls have loved being able to go outside again...and I have enjoyed them being outside and out of the way! I hope you all are enjoying the spring weather!!! And a small baby update...eight weeks to go and still no name sooo I am still open for suggestions. we have several options but nothing that has stuck...yet!

Hubby Tag

Bad picture...with me in all my prego glory!But it was the latest one of us together!



When I first saw this tag i thought it was so cute because let's face it the poor boys dont get talked about much! So I thought it was a great way to find out a lil more 411 on everyones other halves! So enjoy mine!!!

What is his name? Aaron Snelson Bean Aka. Snelson mandela, hun, daddy, snelsner, and beaner. Aaron's middle name is his mom's maiden name and it has been the brunt of lots of funny nick names!

How long have you been married? 7 years in july! And so far neither one of us is itchy!

Who eats more sweets? Depnds on what it is choclate...aaron hands down. Any other sweet morsel of goodness me hands down!

Who is taller? Aaron by like 2 feet.

Who can sing better? Aaron again hands down. I am bad!!!

Who is smarter? I am going to say aaron again...however some of the things he has done with our children might challenge that!

Who does the laundry? ME!!! Every time aaron does it something of mine gets ruined.

Who pays the bills? We share I pay some and he pays some...as long as it all gets done who cares!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Aaron... I think I am the first girl who has said that they sleep on the left...

Who mowes the lawn? I am so excited to say that in two weeks I will actually have a house and a lawn to mow !!!! Hopefully it will be both of us!

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. But aaron cooks on most weekends and he cooks all the yummy desserts in our house. Yes, I am lucky and slightly heavier because of it!

Who drives? Aaron usually does but we actually make it there when I do! hehehe small point of tension:)

Who is more stubborn? Uhhhh. me. :)

Who asked who out first? Aaron did

Who has more siblings? Aaron. 5 girls and 2 boys...

Who wears the pants? We each have one leg in. I would say I do but when aaron gets mad it is def. him!

Who spends who saves? Aaron is the saver and I am def. the spender. Although it is usually on my kids.

What is one of his quirks? He crosses his legs. But he says it doesnt bother him so...so be it.

Who farts more? It is pretty even to be honest but since I am the one bloggin it...aaron!

I "hubby tag" becky, alison, amd stacy

Daddy& daughter dance

Ashlyn got to go to her first school dance tonight!... with her dad. It was so cute to see how excited she was to go ...because we both understand that the day when we are the LAST person she would want to go with is quickly approaching. So we did her nails and make-up. Fancied up her hair and put on her favorite princess dress, and crown. She was squealing with delight. Aaron surprised her with a corsage, and took her to dinner. then to the dance.I dont even get dates like that anymore! I dont know who was more excited me or ashlyn. I was so proud of aaron for being such a good dad, and it was so cute to see ashlyn so excited. They had lots of fun and it was a sweet memory that we will all cherish

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the terrible twos are hitting early!

Alysse has two months before she "offically" hits two but the signs of a two year old are all around us! I have a really hard time not saying "but ashlyn never did that"! I am very quickly coming to the conclusion that ashlyn was an angel child...and alysse...well...not so much. Now before I am cast into the world of horrible mother's (it will not be the first time!) for saying my child is a spawn of the devil...Here are some pictures of her latest talent. It all started the other day, ashlyn was going to a birthday party and i was helping her wrap the present...when i realized it was WAY to quite for alysse to be doing anything good. I walked into the hall way because the door was open and ashlyn went towards my bedroom. Next thing i knew...i hear "MOM HURRY HURRY COME HERE QUICK!!!" I go running (as fast as my prego goodness could carry me) into the bathroom to find a toilet filled with treasures. It seems that while ashlyn and i were busy with the present alysse had collectively gone to each room and found fun things to fill the toilet with. A book, some little people figures, a shirt, a lip gloss, a toothpaste box...etc. I was like 'child what am I going to do with you?'...and then I was relieved that she has not YET leanred how to flush it because that would have been really bad! Since then I bought toilet locks. Only to go into the bathroom the other morning and find she had totallly figured out how to get them open...and had again filled the toilet with clothes (to the rim) from the laundry basket. This time... not so funny...and the next time, even less. I dont know what to do. She also has been throwing major fits if she doesnt get what she wants. and she now completely refuses to stay in the cart while i try to grocery shop. And can wiggle her way out of the restraint buckle!! So then she stands up and throws herself forward until i let her down. She then immediatly runs in the opposite direction!!! I am totally going to lose it. and I am pregnant!!! HELP! I am just hoping that maybe since it started early it will end early??? Here's to hoping!

Californian Adventures!!

It has been awhile since I have posted anything new...so i am going to attempt to catch up on all of our california fun...hang on...First off. I love california...or atleast the 80 degree weather. It was so nice to see green and flowers growing. As it is STILL cold and snowny in michigan! We Have spent a day at the beach...which the girls loved. Alysse was covered in sand!

We went to disneyland for a day...but after reading erica's post it looks like we picked the WRONG day to go. The park was filled to compassity that day...and we waited over an hour for every ride. But once again the weather was beautiful and the girls had so much fun. Finding Nemo was the fAVorite ride of the day.

We had a massive easter celebration with lots of family...and hunted eggs. It was so nice to just let my girls wear their dresses and not have tights and sweaters and jackets and gloves and..ok you get the point. just dresses and sandals!

We have eaten lots of yummy mexican food. which is seriously lacking in the mid-west...and my sister and I ate an entire strawberry pie in ten minutes! So needless to say I have put on some weight atleat I can blame it on being pregnant! hehe. We only have a couple days left and I am sooo sad to have to go back to the cold and snow! So between now and then we are just going to enjoy the sun! It has been so nice to let my kids play outside and have picnic's.

baby #3 will be!!

Sooooo I went to the doctor yesterday and had my sonagram....and it looks like we will be having another girl. It is slightly ironic since aaron's brother has four boys!!! Apparently he got all the Y's and we got ALL the X's!!! Thank you to those of you how cried me through it yesterday pointing out the positives to having a litter of one sex! I greatly appreicate it!And I am feeling alot better today...and we feel extremely blessed that everything looks good and our new baby is healthy! Also as of right now it looks like the baby's feet look good...so no club feet as of right now. We are now searching for a name because I had truly convinced myself that we were having a boy this time...i had tons of boy names picked out but I have no clue about anymore girl names...so i am more than open for suggestions!!!! I hope everyone has a great day!!!

mommy gets a time out!!!

I had an amazing weekend!!! A couple of weeks ago stacy called me and asked if i wanted to go to chicago with her and go to the time out for women...I was soooo excited to get away from the kids and with baby number 3 due in August this was going to be one of my last oppotunities for awhile...so Friday morning amid a blizzard i packed up and met stac in toledo. We spent the next four/ five hours talking, laughing, and making fun of aaron's anicent GPS that kept scaring stacy and was a source of laughter for the whole weekend. We had so much fun...for anyone who has not gone... the women's time out was AMAZING!!!! Neither one of had ever gone before and i would recommend it to everyone. It was exactly what i needed before this baby is born.

We stayed at the Embassy suites and stac scored us a sweet room with all kinds of goodies. We got a free movie each night. So we watched Juno (which I was dying to see after seeing Ellen Page on Oprah) and 27 dresses. We absolutely gorged ourselves on the amazing breakfast every morning...and we decided that we want to live at an embassy suites...have someone come make our beds, and clean our bathroom every day and a great breakfast waiting every morning!!!!

driving into chicago I was the bad verison of a tourist, and had to get a picture of the city. And yes...all of you that live in the mid-west that is blue sky and SUN!!! The weather was great...which also added to our weekend

It was really exciting to actually see and meet some of our "mormon" super stars! I love hiliary weeks and it was so much fun getting a chance to meet her. She was so funny and witty. We also met Merrlee Boyack ( i couldnt say her name all weekend) BUT SHE gave the most amazing talk and once again it was cool to meet these people...after reading their books and listening to there cds. It was awesome to hear their stories and get to see their different personalities. We were also able to met Chieko Okazaki from the general relief socitey pres., dean hughes, and jane clayson the cbs morning achor that wrote the book "I am a mother" ....i was i slight ahhh i think this is what heaven in be like.

After the confernce was over we hopped on the L-train.... small side note..... stacy was amazing and knew everything...where we were going, how to get there, where to eat...she was the perfect tour guide...the next picture would be much better burned and way less embrassing but anyone who knows me knows very well that I am a major barf-er...and being prego doesnt help the situation any!!! And we had to hop off the train so i could barf!!! Stac had to take a picture of me next to my special trash can! And i am actually very thankful for that trash can!!!

After my eposide we finally made our way down to michigan avenue and got something to eat. We ate at ed...something...but everyone ( all the waiters and hostes) are really loud and rude. I was not feeling very good so i couldnt get into as much as I wanted to but stacy made the most of the situation and got ice thrown at her and kissed...yup stacy got some action from our waiter "the swan"and of course i got a picture...we then hit michigan ave...for some great shopping...we went to Garett's and got some awesome carmel corn...once again an Oprah orginal!!!

It was the perfect weekend. And we both were very proud of our husbands as they juggled many obstacles with great success! However they were very happy to see that we had not run away for good. We had so much fun it was kinda hard to come home....everyone mom needs a time out evey once in a while!