Valentine Treats

They kids received a couple boxes in the mail yesterday. One from Jenny and one from mom and dad.


Treat bags from Jenny!


Colin: "Eeeeeee......candy!!!!"




He is definitely my boy....has the sweet tooth!!!




Gifts from Grandma and Papa





His puppy Lucky....he's been into 101 Dalmations lately!






Taylor's reindeer Val (like Valentine!!!!)

As a family, we haven't been up to too much lately. I've been packing things here and there...mostly things we don't use on a day to day basis. Boxes are starting to pile up in corners. We went up to Cedar Rapids the first week of Feb. to house hunt. The first day we were there, we went thru one house that is owned by a director that just moved to Columbia, MO. It was a little smaller that what we wanted. Then we drove around looking at neighborhoods, and hunting for houses.
We ended up at a Real Estate office and received some print outs of homes in our price range. We then drove around the looked at them, to put on our short list. I would then the next day walk thru the houses with Fred (tims dad), the kids and the realtor. Tim had to go to a meeting in Ottumwa...so he left it up to me. I narrowed it down 3. So Tim was able to walk thru them the following day with the realtor and myself. Overall, we decided on the one for us!!! We hope to make an offer soon!!! Just praying everything works out!!

Taylor is really enjoying Pre-school and doing very well. She knows her shapes, numbers, letters, and even writes her name, along with, Tim, Colin, and Becky. We are very proud of her!! She can count to 30, she follows along very well with instructions from the teachers and gets along with all of her classmates.
Colin is all boy!! He is just a funny little guy! He talks very well and is saying the darndest things at the funniest times. Of course, he picks up alot of it from Taylor, Tim, or myself. We saw a commercial for The Family Guy episode where Stewie is saying, "ma, ma, ma, mommy, mommy, mommy, mama, mama, mama, etc. etc." then Phyliss (not sure of her name...the mom in the show) and she yells, "what". Stewie then says "Hi...." and giggles. He is always asking me to say 'What', then he'll start saying, "Mom, mom.....Hi"!!! Its too funny!!
Well, that is a quick insight to our lives for now. Hope all is well and Happy Valentine's Day!

Funny faces

The kids have been quite silly lately. We built a fort with some big blankets the other day and they can't stop talking about it! They opted to take a few candid shots!

Taylor's drawings and writing

Taylor drew Colin on her desk


Here she is writing everyone's names.

Next to her work of art:)

Tim's Announcement Bulletin

Here is the bulletin sent out for Tim's promotion. You can click on the picture and it will enlarge it for you to read!!

Gma and Papa Stevens visit

Taylor had her 1st Christmas Program on Dec. 15th. My parents came down for it. They also brought the kids gifts down!


Colin and his new bike!!


Taylor's doll house.



showin' papa our train!

Taylor singing...she is the 3rd angel from the left!

Walking down the aisle with her classmates!

Taylor is 2nd from left. The program was really cute! They told the story of how Baby Jesus was born and sang songs.

Christmas with Gma and Papa Cernin

Gma and Papa Cernin came down the Sunday after Christmas and stayed thru Wednesday the 30th. I had to work until 7, so by the time I got home, the kids were anxiously waiting for me, so they could open their gifts.

Colin got a WALL-E robot

A CD karaoke player

Gma made Colin a "Thomas" quilt!

Here are the next Singing Superstars!

Our big family gift was a wii. Here is Gma bowling!

Nintendo has come a lonnnngggg way...from it's 1st game system. This is so much fun!

Taylor playing baseball...she has also been doing VERY well in Tennis and Golf!

Papa boxing

This boxing game is good cardio!

Here area couple videos of the two of them singing. Notice Colin just bouncing with the beat of the music. They put on a show for a couple hours! It was so much fun!

Christmas Day

Christmas at the Cernin's was not how we planned. On Christmas Eve day, both kids had fevers and were laying around. Well, Colin would have little bursts of energy, then he'd crash hard on the couch! So we took it easy all day.


This is Santa's Magical Key. You hang it on your front doorknob so Santa can get inside. Taylor was so excited to hang it!!! To see the excitement in her face this year was priceless.


Here she is helping me bake sugar cookies. Nothing like waiting to the last minute to bake cookies for Santa. It was so much fun.



The finished product....minus the icing of course!




Taylor and I ended up going to church, while Tim stayed home with Colin...only to get sick himself.

Our cookies and milk for Santa, and even some lettuce for the reindeer!

Checkin' out the goods! They'd been good kids!

Santa's note and key for the kids. The reindeer even left a mess!

Their new ornaments for the year: Colin got a Toy Story one, and Taylor got a Cinderella.

"Mean Old Lady" movie= Wizard of Oz.

Is he excited or what? Monsters vs. Alien DVD

Taylor got Hungry Hippo!

This was our gift from Taylor. She did this at preschool! I LOVE IT!!! It will hang all year round!

All that topped off, with Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!! Yummy!



Tim was sick all day Christmas. So we didn't get to go to the store and let the kids ride their bikes, like planned. However, I think the kids had a great day and we kept busy with all the new toys!