A little update...

Last Saturday we had our family pictures taken. I decided to get there a few minutes early and take just a couple of the kids. They loved seeing the horse and donkey and we even brought some carrots and Wade fed them. I can't wait to see our pictures. We used a new photographer and I think she did a great job!! Can't wait to share the professional ones. 

 This little girl is standing so well and walking pretty good these days. She doesn't go too far yet because she realizes she can crawl faster but each day she is walking a little more! She looks like a hot mess in these pictures because I was getting ready to change her clothes. She is getting to be such a funny big girl.

 She loves to "talk" on the phone. She basically speaks about three sentences in Chinese and then you may hear "Dada" Ha...we joke that she is fluent in another language-her own language!!

We had one happy little boy this week when Daddy found all his old Ninja Turtles stuff in the attic. Wade has had so much fun playing with them. Thanks Nana for saving them for us!! I love that Wade still calls them "Engine Turtles." Wade has been SO sweet lately so I have to brag on him a bit. Every time Josh and I leave or even just run outside for a minute I hear "Love you Mom!" or "Love you Dad!" Then he will say "kiss and a hug!" I wish I could just bottle him up and keep him this age forever :)

Hoping that this doesn't count as child labor...We HAD to mop the floors and clean up some last weekend and this crazy one year old that we call WK was getting into EVERYTHING. So here is plan B. It only lasted for a bit but we got the floors cleaned. 

 We have a busy weekend planned but we are staying home which is nice. I have a girls night tonight!!!!!! Clearly it has been awhile since this Momma has gotten out so to say I am excited about eating a meal that I didn't have to cook is a understatement. Plus I don't have to clean up after anyone-it doesn't get much better than that these days :)  Tomorrow Wade has a Easter Egg hunt at a friends Church and then we are all going to nap/clean up and then its work time for me. If it ever gets warm again our back yard is needing some attention so that is also on the plan. Next weekend Wade starts T-ball and we are so excited. And guess who the head coach is....Josh!!! He signed up for assistant but I guess everyone else did to so they bumped him to head coach. I know he will do great and Wade is thrilled. Hoping it warms up so we don't freeze at his first game. 

Walking!!

Westin Kate has really taken her sweet time with walking but this week she has really started doing it more. I haven't rushed her at all because I know what happens when sweet little babies start walking...they turn into crazy wild toddlers. I am excited because this means that she won't have her little hands all over floors and playgrounds once she gets the hang of it. I completely forgot to post this video but this was exactly one month ago (funny how that worked out!!) On February 16th she took her first steps and right after she did it she did it again and Josh was able to video it on his phone. Here she is taking steps for the first time.

So here we are a month later and she is really trying hard to get this walking thing. She is 13.5 months!! She isn't walking around everywhere yet but she is taking 6-7 steps at a time and starting to let go of things and walk to other things. On Thursday she took quite a few steps at the park and was so proud of herself. She is also bear crawling on the hard floor now (I think it hurts her knees so she is crawling with her knees up!!) Hopefully today we will get a video of her walking now. I do have another video to share. People don't always believe me that my cute little girl is wild and crazy but here is the proof. She also started this on Thursday this past week. She watched the big kids and about two seconds later she was doing the same thing. I swear she thinks she is 3!!

Today it is so nice outside and I am so thankful because we are having their 1 year old and "almost" 4 year old pictures taken outside. Since she is February and he is April I thought I could do March each year for their yearly pictures. I am sad that WK is one now but I have to be honest that I do love only doing yearly pictures. With both of our kids we did newborn, 3,6,9 and 12 months and then we started doing yearly after that. Now that we are onto once a year we will do professional pictures. For their 3-9 months we just did something cheaper like portrait innovations.

 I have my fingers crossed for today that they both cooperate. I may or may not have bribed Wade with eating dinner out and frozen yogurt if he smiles and behaves. We don't bribe him very often at all but sometimes if is necessary :) Can't wait to share their pictures. Oh and I almost forgot that WK is saying "yea" and blowing kisses just this week. I have been showing her how but she has never blown a kiss back. Well this week my mom stopped by to see the kids after work (she has withdrawals if she only sees them once a week!) and when she was telling them bye I looked over at WK who was in her highchair and she had her sweet hand up to her mouth blowing her a kiss. So sweet. I know I brag about her but she is the sweetest baby ever. Now every time we pick her up she will hug us and lay her head down on our shoulder. I sure do hope she stays sweet!!

And in other big news Westin Kate is no longer crying at the gym or church. We started the gym last week and she only cried the first three days and only for 5 minutes or less. I think she does great because Wade goes too. But last week in the crawlers class they said she hardly cried at all. She actually played and had fun :) She never screamed like Wade did (we got called out every week for a LONG time) but she would cry off and on throughout the service. Thankfully her teachers love her so they just tolerate her issues :) They were so happy last week when we picked her up because she did so well! 

13 Months Old

I decided not to do monthly post anymore now that she is over one but I got a little sad that she is growing up so fast so I decided to do one for this month and do it again at 15 months. Who knows I may get a little crazy and do it every month until she is 18 months old. These will be much shorter...

• weighs 21 pounds
• size 4 diapers
• 12-18 month clothes
• size 3 shoe
• has 6 teeth now-she has 4 on the top that are all almost in and still just 2 on the bottom
• takes two naps (we are working on dropping the morning one) 
• sleeps ok at night but still not great. Wakes up at least once crying still :(
• loves music and books and will now sing with you when you sing her favorite songs (ABC's and wheels on the bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider)
• sticks her tongue out because she is so silly and wants to make us laugh
• can sign "all done"
• says...hey, Wade (ade) and Dada or Daddy- this girl is taking her sweet time walking and talking and we are just fine with that since she is our baby!!
• yells if we aren't paying attention to her
• cries if you tell her "no" or "stop" (oh this is pretty entertaining to watch!!)
• loves Charlie and Wade so much
• waves and claps all the time
• stands well on her own now
• still isn't walking but takes 3-4 steps here and there-walking around everything holding on with one hand so I don't think it will be too much longer
• cries when we leave her at church
• went to the gym day care the other day and actually only cried for 5 minutes because Wade was there with her
• loves to ride her little bike or in the wagon

Here is a picture of our big 13 month old this week-she was wearing her tennis shoes that finally fit her now!

Wadism's

I think I have finally uploaded all of our pictures and hopefully I am caught up once again. Now printing them is another story. I really need to go ahead and place an order and get my favorite one's printed. That is another job in itself.

Wade is at a really funny age. I feel like everything he says makes us laugh. However he has started with this little attitude and has started shaking his head when he tells us something and we try so hard not to laugh but to punish him for talking back. Since when did talking back start at almost 4?? He knows not to do it because after he says something and does it he will smile so big!! Here are some funny things he has been saying...

• When our friends were in town last weekend we told him we were having pizza delivered for a special treat. He says "well how are the waiters going to get here then?" Oh poor child we must have eaten out WAY too much! Haha so I am so glad he thinks we will have waiters come to our house to serve our pizza. We told him that Daddy and Brayden would be the waiters :)
• "Good Land Sissy" when she was doing something she wasn't supposed too. I really don't think Josh or I say this so who knows where this came from
• "When I was little I was taken by Gypsies" He told my friend Holly this and we both bust out laughing. I am not sure I even know anything about gypsies so once again who knows about this one. He said Mimi taught him this?
• "Look at all that hair girl!" He said that to WK in the bath tub the other day. 

He has really been attached to me lately which is so odd. Actually to me and his sister. He doesn't want to leave her anywhere or go anywhere without her. Its actually really sweet. Two weeks ago my parents asked him to spend the night because he didn't have school Monday and my mom is off on Monday's. Well he had a little cough so around 830p I ran his inhaler over just in case he started coughing. Well I guess because he saw me he decided that he just couldn't spend the night. Which is odd because he has always like spending the night there. He told me "I would just say Mommy Mommy and want you!" then he said "I would miss my girl" talking about his sister. He calls her "his girl" now and its so cute. He told my parents that he could probably spend the night again when he is 5. He told them he might go to the lake with them sometime but couldn't stay at their regular house until then. 

These two have become quite the pair. He wants to be with her all the time and just the other day she cried when he got out of the car for preschool. This makes this momma so happy!! This was the day he wanted to sleep in her room during nap time so he could be near her :)

This is a fairly new activity at our house now when it is cold and raining. These two laugh and play so hard when we take the cushions off the couch. WK will stand up and then fall all the way down onto her back and laugh. Once again we have a crazy monkey on our hands with her.

Would someone please buy this child a pillow!! Her poor bumper is folded down now because she likes to lay on it like this. I know I gave Wade a pillow around this age but I still get worried that she is too little to have it in her bed. One day soon I will get her one.

Melissa and I were talking about this when they were here. I just can't imagine what they will be like when they are 14 if they are already so into the Ipad etc. These boys would have sat here all night and happily played their games. We only let them play for 10-15 minutes though.

And here are my two favorite boys at Dads Day at school. The theme today was Dad's Camp Out. From talking to Wade it sounds like they had a great time. Funny story...last year at Dad's day Wade was mean to Josh and wouldn't sit with him because Wade said he "didn't like Josh's shirt that he wore". So this year Josh made sure to ask him if he liked his shirt before they left the house. I mean what 2.5 year old tells their dad that they don't like their shirt...my crazy child of course! 

Fun times

We got Wade a trampoline for his birthday (an early present). It was our neighbors and they sold it to us so cheap. Of course the weather hasn't been great since we got it up but Wade loves it. I love that this one has the mat and net so I can let him go out and jump by himself. Our back yard  is great because it is fenced in and there are trees all around it so it is pretty private. I also love that you can't see it from the road so if I am downstairs I feel ok about him being out there without me. He can't get the gate open yet and I hope he doesn't figure it out for a long time.

We let Wade have one smore last weekend for his special treat. We ate dinner over at Ashley and Zach's and then they all went out and roasted some marshmellows!

Wade has been wanting to go to Monkey Joe's so bad but because of cold and flu season we have not been since the Fall so I promised him once March got here we would go. So last weekend we went and they both had a blast. WK went for the first time and she was as crazy as ever and tried to bounce and jump and climb everything. Wade would never even get into the bounce houses until he was 2 and she was not scared at all-of course she is going to be our wild child :)

I have to work this weekend and we are just going to hang out and enjoy being at home. It is so nice that we don't really have any plans. Wade has another birthday party on Saturday afternoon at Pullen Park but other than that we are going to spend most of our time at home. I really need to price clothes and get them ready to consign. If anyone needs any boy clothes I have a million and would love to sell them really cheap!! 

This may shock you...

So we have had some major changes at the Foltz house lately. It all started on February 15th!! We have officially given up artificial sweetener... so no more diet soda for us. Don't fall over out of your chair but Josh and I have not had a diet soda in 20 days. Now if you know us you know that we LOVE diet mt dew and coke zero so this has been a big change.

Well of course I started researching other things that were in our food and we decided to make a huge change. So on top of the soda we have also cleaned out our freezer and pantry and we are trying to eat mostly whole foods. In the last 20 days I have had fast food twice. This includes Subway and Chick-fil-a. Now we were eating fast food once or twice a week. To be honest I really haven't missed the food at all but I have missed how easy it is to go through the drive through and get the kids lunch. Except for 2 meals I have made every lunch and dinner for almost a month. Now you will really have to pick yourself up off the floor because I used to only cook one or two nights a week :) To be honest the worst part about it is the clean up.

We just decided that if it has an ingredient in it that I can't pronounce or wouldn't cook with then we just wouldn't eat it. So the kids have been eating a lot of fruit for snacks. We did find some Olive oil chips and popcorn at Trader Joe's that both only have 3 ingredients. We are trying to avoid MSG and GMO's so we have been looking for that as well. We are buying almost everything organic if we can. It is a little more expensive but its ok because we all feel better. We don't eat many things with sugar but I do have a half and half tea every day and then I either drink water or lemonade. I have been making some green smoothies for Wade and I and they are actually pretty good. It is amazing how many foods are horrible for you and we thought we were eating healthy. Even at Trader Joe's some of the processed food is really bad for you. We are trying to also buy grass fed milk and cheese and are going to start shopping some locally at a little farmers market store this weekend.

Of course I miss taking a frozen meal out and popping it in the microwave but after realizing they have 30-50 ingredients I decided it was not worth it. Wade of course has him moments because he is used to eating junk but overall he has done really well. I found him some organic dark chocolate and he has been enjoying that here and there. I also found Lara Bars which are similar to granola bars but they only have peanuts, dates and sea salt in them. He actually loves them. They do have some fat and sugar but since we cut out sugar everywhere else we figured it won't hurt him. At school he still gets cupcakes and special treats on occasion and we will still go and get frozen yogurt every now and then for a special treat. Our goal is 80-90% of the time we want to cook and eat whole foods and then 10-20% of the time we will splurge. We also have gotten rid of all white flour foods. So everything we have in the pantry is 100% whole wheat. The pasta does taste a little different but it is actually really good. I still have a lot of learning to do but its a start for us. I still can't believe I have gone almost a month without soda :) If I ever do decide to drink one I will just opt for a real soda because after all my research I am learning that the real sugar isn't great in a coke but it is so much better than aspartame. I wish we would have done this years ago.

Wade has been going to so many fun birthday parties lately. He thinks he is pretty cool stuff because he got invited to two of the girls birthday parties in his class and both moms told us that they hear Wade's name quite a bit at home :) Josh of course calls him a little "playboy" (not around wade of course!!) and Josh could not be more proud. He must get it honest because for some reason these little girls just love Wade. One dad told us last week "I am not sure how this makes me feel!!" because she keeps talking about him. Haha...we are so not ready for him to grow up and have girlfriends. The funny part about it is that Wade is not really into girls these days. At the beginning of the year he would talk about all his girlfriends and now he says that just the boys play and that they don't like to play with the girls!! Wade of course was just excited that he got to have junk food twice in one week! All he talked about was the food and cake :) This was at his friend Ella's birthday party and I forgot to take pictures at Brooke's party because I had WK with me. This is Wade and Kate. Wade, Kate and Ella have all been in school together since they were 2. We love these sweet kids!!

Lately

A couple of weeks ago while I was working Josh and Dad took Wade to the Dinosaur exhibit at the fair grounds. Josh said it was just ok but Wade seemed to really enjoy it!! He loves stuff like this.

Wade got this basketball goal for Christmas last year and we are just now getting it out of the attic. WK was so cute trying to shoot the basketball! That's what happens when you clean out your attic...you find things you forgot about :) I can't tell you how happy I am to have a organized attic. However my office is out of control until next week when I take stuff to the consignment sale.

And here is our walking tornado in action. Please don't come to our house in the next year or so because as long as she is awake our house is a mess!!

 Last weekend our good friends from Greenville were in town. Melissa and I used to work together on 1 west and we miss them so much. We were both pregnant with our boys when we worked together and we used to hang out and walk every day that we were off. We miss them so much. They are from Canada and moved to Michigan 2 years ago so they could be closer to home. I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since we saw them. The boys were two the last time they played and Avalyn was just a couple of days old when we went to Greenville to tell them "bye." We are hoping to take the kids on a trip before too long to see them and maybe even venture to Niagara Falls for a little vacation.

Photo Dump!!

Here is a little picture dump because I am so behind in blogging. Some of these are from last month but I still wanted to add them to the blog!!! 

 Sometimes when I am working from home Josh will take the kids to Dick's to walk around. Wade was lifting some weights and Westin Kate just enjoys hanging out in the cart!!

Josh got tickets to opening night of the Hurricanes game so we left WK and took our big boy. He was so funny. He ate dinner and then got his dipping dots (for the first time) and after he finished eating his ice cream he says "Ok we can go now!!" We had to explain to him that we were going to watch more than 5 minutes of the game :)

And here is our little social butterfly in all her glory. She loves to wave to everyone these days. The other day we walked at the park and she rode in her little bike and she waved the entire 2 miles around the lake. She looked like she was in a pageant!!

  I just love this little girl in these cute blue jeans. Oh why does she have to get so big so fast :(