Simply perfect

So, we moved. We sold our cute little Olathe house and moved out to the country. The actual moving process kind of stunk. 10 years of stuff, 3 exhausting weekends, and some amazing help from Mom, Dad, and good friends. The actual selling process took us by surprise, and made mainly the kids question the move. No more close neighbors, no more sidewalks, no more parks you can walk to. But, do you see this picture? Does it not explain it all? Now we have unlimited play space, a pond in our backyard, and a creek in our front yard. With the no neighbor situation, you don't have to worry about getting caught walking by a window naked! Will told me this week, "Mom, I just love the view out my window in the morning. I can see the new baby geese when I wake up." Yes, we have baby geese up at the pond! There just aren't words to express the joy you witness when the kids run down the hill at sunset while we watch from the deck. The sun shines through Livi's hair like a halo!
Our blessings run rampant on a daily basis, and we are so excited for what the future holds! 

6 years old

6 years ago Ryan and I were busy chasing around 1 and a half year old Will. He was the first grandchild and first great grandchild for the Huggins side, and pretty much lit up our lives. But then we got Samantha! She was the sweet little girl who evened out our little family of three. She lit up our lives even more! She was a dream baby! Now our Sweet Sammy is 6 years old! She's almost done with kindergarten. She has a vibrant personality, and is always making us laugh. Sammy is sweet to her brother and baby sister, and we all just adore her!

Sammy celebrated her 6th birthday with 5 of her friends yesterday. We had a rainbow themed party with rainbow cake, rainbow fruit, rainbow candy, and rainbow balloons. The girls made rainbow frames and took them home with a group picture of all the party girls for a party favor. The day couldn't have been more beautiful, and everyone had a great time!

Sammy was ready for her party!



The Rainbow Spread!

Rainbow cakes. Pretty and delicious!

6 candles!

Liv was my decorating buddy!

Easter

Easter 2012 was a whirlwind experience for the Petzold kiddos! We had a grand total of 4 easter egg hunts and a plethora of chocolate and jelly beans! Livi quickly became a pro at egg hunting, (and egg-opening!). The kids raked in the candy and the money, each finding eggs with several 1/2 dollars and a few bills, too!
We went to a fabulous church service Sunday morning. It's nice to be able to pause and realize the reason for this day.

Livi's first egg coloring experience - lots of stained fingers, cracked eggs, and multi-colored dying going on!



Awesome Eggs!

Pretty little egg-colorer!

My sweet babies all dressed up!

bunny ears

more ears

Livi LOVED her Easter basket!

On the hunt!

NEW YEAR

We've had a great start to 2012! The kids and I are back to school, and doing great. Will got to visit his kindergarten teacher's class to read a book last week. The best part? Sammy is in that class!! She was so proud, and he read his book, Froggy Goes to Bed, perfectly!
The kids have been busy with school, friends, basketball, and gymnastics. Will is not only a soccer star, but he's turning into a pretty good basketball player! He got 5 baskets in one game, and he's always the #1 defender! (Being the tallest player doesn't hurt!) Sammy is loving her new gymnastics class! She did the balance beam last week, and although she was scared at first, she was walking backwards by the end. I was so proud of her perseverance!
As for sweet baby Liv...she thinks she's just one of the big kids. The only difference? She still doesn't talk. We're constantly working on her using her words, but she still just points and grunts! She can say more, and mama, but won't say much else. I know one day I'll be asking her to be quiet, so I should just quit complaining now! Otherwise, Livi is fabulous, as always! She is just so happy and fun! She loves her baby and stroller, and walks them around all the time. She loves to dress up, put on hair bows, lip gloss, and shoes. In the same moment, she'll want to play catch and run wild with Will!


2 points!



Little North Star!



Youch! Livi's 1st Shiner!




Cuddle Bugs



B-ball Star!

Driving!



You should always accessorize to walk your baby!



Snackin'



So happy!



Like my purple hair?

Rockin' a purple mohawk!



Sweet 'hawk!



so much to say...

As usual, I am doing my bi-monthly post! Enjoy a picture update from our awesome Christmas break!

CHRISTMAS EVE

PETZOLD COUSINS

EATING SANTA'S CRUMBS

HELICOPTER

PIERCED EARS!

PRETTY CHRISTMAS DRESS!

HUGGINS COUSINS

STOCKINGS FROM G-MA & PAPA

PERFECT PURPLE BASKETBALL!

HAPPY BABY LIV

DANCIN' CHICKS!

HEADBANDZ

READY FOR A NEW YEAR'S EVE SNIPE HUNT!

BARRELING DOWN THE HILL WITH G-MA!

BFF'S

ALL OF US

5th disease, special education and Christmas

How could this odd combination be possible? Well, it pretty much sums up the past week for me! I'll start from the beginning. Livi and Will have had a weirdo rash over the past couple weeks. Loooooong story short, they were both diagnosed with 5th disease. Neat! Sammy has already had it, so we're all covered now, which is good. It's just been rough to deal with. Thank goodness we're on the tail end of it.
On top of a stressful week at home with sick kiddos, it's been a stressful week at school. I have a wonderful group of kids this year. There are just some high need situations (hence their placement in my class) that tend to cause me lots of challenges! I so love what I do, and I do my very best to celebrate every bit of growth my students make, I just have to take deep breaths every once in a while! Just when I get super frusterated, I am "provided" with a reminder like this poem:

Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip -to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” ” Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around… and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills… and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things …about Holland.

The blessings of my family are ever present, and I thank God for them!

And as for the final thing on my list; Christmas. It's just such a magical time, and when you have little kids, you feel that every day! We are so excited! The house is decorated, presents are wrapped and under the tree, we've seen Santa, and our Elf on the Shelf, Buttercup, keeps close watch on the kids every day. 

We are so ready for Christmas break! Viv, Stacy, Eddie and Staci will be here, and we are ready to live it up!

Blessings

I have a sign that hangs over my mantle that reads, "Count Your Blessings". I try to make it a daily habit to do this. I believe strongly in looking for the good, no matter what I'm facing. This month I've seen countless friends' Facebook posts saying what they're thankful for. I think I'll just post my list here!
In no particular order:
Will
Sam
Liv

Ryan
Mom
Dad
Stacy
Viv
Eddie
Staci
My Grandmas
Hez
Mandy
Friends
Family
Good babysitters
a clean house
Old English
my students
my work/school family
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay
pasta
Jazzercise
battery powered leaf blowers
staple guns
coffee
sleep
my Dyson vacuum
Clorox wipes
yoga pants
teaching
polka dots
K-State Wildcats
good books
painted fingernails
Harry Connick, Jr.
good music
dancing
singing
good hair days
boots
laughter