Christmas Cards

Soooo... it's that time of year again. The time of year where I send out Christmas Cards that include the link to our blog... this year of course, upon Phillip editing/proof reading my little "blurb" update on the back of our Christmas Card he asked "are you sure you want to put that on there" (regarding our blog link) to which I replied "of course!" Meaning that I truly, desperately, need to do an update. 

I thought perhaps I would do photos of every one's birthdays for this year... it's been a pretty awesome year, for sure!

The first birthday of the year always goes to our sweet little Beans. His 8th birthday is on February 27th & this year, Auntie Pup took the babies to Petco & Dollar Tree for his gifts & balloons. Beans also got a Dairy Queen Ice Cream cone for a "birthday cake"! (don't worry... we didn't give him the whole thing!)

Here was Bitty's 4th Birthday invitation... I LOVVVEDD how it turned out! She kept asking "did I go to the North Mountain?" (it's a Disney Frozen movie reference).  She's just so sweet in this photo!

Bitty had such a big party, with so many friends & family members... it was SOO fun!

But perhaps the star of the show, other than Queen Bitsy herself... was Gee's AMAZING Elsa cake!

Queen Bitsy at her party!

Gamps probably giving Willie a "pep talk" about how, if Willie just goes with it, he can take the costume off soon enough... poor Wooley!

Bitty's birthday was on a chilly April afternoon... so having this fabulous bounce house in the basement was perfect for the kiddos after they enjoyed their cake and ice cream!

Bitsy & Friends!

Mommy at Bitty's school showing photos of my baby girl & telling her birth story!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday EXACTLY as he wanted us to, at home, with just the 5 of us & a delicious Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake.  Harvest was late this year, so we were enjoying one last weekend together before the craziness began!

A Peanut Butter Cup Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake to celebrate 35 years...

And then in November we celebrated our little Willie's 2nd birthday, in true boy style, with tractors.

Willie was so blessed to have family all the way from Oklahoma (Geemom & Poppa) & lot of friends over for his party!

And Gee.. ever amazing as always, outdid herself with a John Deere Tractor cake and cookies! (I made Willie his favorite Beef Jerky!)

Willie's big 2nd birthday gift! A pedal tractor! He was so excited about it, he didn't know how to react! We were a little disappointed, because Daddy had to be gone for work the weekend of Willie's party... but thank goodness for technology so he could still semi-enjoy the festivities!

And a trailer just the right size for hauling his big brother Beans around!

And for our final birthday of the year, it was Mommy's 32nd birthday. To which my Mommy & Hubby made me feel as special as ever. My mother created a beautifully sparkly chocolate chip cookie cake with a tiara I can even wear, should I choose to do so.

And my husband... God Bless the man, he bought me my very favorite cupcakes from New York City & had them shipped to me.  They were amazingly perfectly wonderful & delicious. Proof that he does love me, despite my crazy favorites.

I decided, for my birthday, to pamper myself (While Bitty was at school & Willie napped) to take a nice long shower, do my hair, paint my nails & get dressed up for dinner out on the town (with my little people & Auntie Pup, of course). I felt like a million bucks!

One of my favorite gifts, matching handmade aprons from Geemom! WE LOVE THEM!

I truly do have every intention of updating this with slightly more regularity... I have SOOO many photos and I want to share them with those I love most! The Christmas Cards went out today... so hopefully everyone will have them by the end of the week!

We are so very blessed & love each of you so much!

Happy Holidays!

Life Lately

I'm noticing that if, perhaps, I blogged more frequently, I wouldn't have to squeeze so much into one little post... but I think that the photos I choose are worth so much more than the words I could write. In this post I'll include photos from February to current...

Here's what's happening in the lives of the Van Courts lately:

Daddy/Phillip: is having a wonderful year at work, and we're quite anxious to see how the fiscal year turns out, especially coming off of one of the worst wheat crops in 20 years.  He has received a couple of job offers for moves within the company that we have, so far, turned down.  One to Minneapolis, MN and the other to Chicago, IL.  They just weren't quite right for us or our family... though we have a feeling that we may be getting more of these offers to more seriously look into in the near future.  In our personal life, we've FINALLY redone our master bedroom and graduated to a King Sized bed!!!  What a HUGE difference it makes! Unfortunately, we started out with an off brand tempurpedic mattress and HATED it... so we are awaiting the delivery of a good ol nothing fancy pillow top mattress in the next couple of weeks. Our room looks like a grown up room instead of a modge-podge of college dorm room furniture!

Mommy/Kristin: I'm having a great year getting rid of things!  At our garage sale in October I made around $800 and have since become quite addicted to eBaying items!  I'm over $3000 in sales since September! It's wonderful, Phillip loves getting rid of things... I love getting rid of things for a great price!  The kids' Christmas was paid for by our eBay earnings! I'm also doing my first consignment sale (going through and thinning out baby girl clothes... I've got 4 giant bins full of them!) this weekend, so I'm anxious to see how this works out! According to the Excel Spreadsheet, I have the potential to make over $800 if it all sells!

Callie/Bitty: She is just becoming quite the smarty pants! Her can write her own name (first and last) is working on learning mommy's phone number and our house address. She likes school ok (has started having some separation anxiety issues but does well  as long as her best friend Jerzie is there to walk into the classroom with her)... We've been dealing with a few normal, age appropriate behavioral issues (just pushing buttons, saying no, or that she doesn't "want to" do something) and trying to lose naptime (mommy DESPERATELY needs naptime!)... but she truly is just a sweet baby girl that loves her baby brother and family more than anything in the whole wide world.  Also... she LOVES Disney Princesses (something mommy has been anxiously awaiting to happen!  I LOVE them too!)

Willie/Bay Bay; He is just the smartest, nimblest, little man baby! He has Callie's agility minus her fears... and because of that we will find him climbing on or in nearly anything! I often feel as though I'm wrestling a hungry alligator if I'm attempting to keep him from something he really wants to do... he's SOOO strong! His hands are only slightly smaller than Callie's and he wears a size 6 shoe (Callie is just barely in a size 8!)... and we never give him enough credit for how intelligent he is! He picks up on things so quickly! One of the funniest things he's done lately, was toot while I was holding him, I responded by holding my nose and saying "Ooooo, stinky boy! PU!" The next time he tooted, he ran over to me, to hold my nose! I was cracking up laughing... that Silly Willie!

Willie helping Sis with her homework (yes that is a surgical drape covering the table! :)

Family Dinners around the table are always silly!

Even when little girls are dressed as pretty princesses (The Belle dress from Beauty and the Beast, this dress belonged to Auntie Boo when she was a little girl!)

The look of excitement in Daddy's eyes... He'll love me for the photos in the years to come!

I am quite proud of my husband for learning how to do Bitty's hair in a pony tail... on this particular day, he was requested to do her hair!

Man's best friend... need I say more? This is a 100% candid photo... I love my boys!

In real life, my children are typically mismatched dirtball kids... but we have a lot of fun.  I've decided that perhaps I need to take more real life photos :)

In an attempt to get a few things done around the house and keep the babies busy... I had them paint the back door with some old lotion (I don't love the smell of it and want to get rid of it!)... they loved it!  The clean up really wasn't that bad either!

Dirtball baby lotion painting his face...

I wish I'd caught his baby blues looking directly into the camera... he's so handsome (even when he DESPERATELY needs a haircut!)

The Van Courts, at Gee's NEW house in Derby... all ready to go see Disney on Ice!

At the beginning of the show, when Mickey and Minnie came out... I felt myself totally overwhelmed with emotion.  Something about sharing something so special with my baby girl and being so excited about that, I had tears in my eyes.  It was SUCH a neat experience!

We met up with our friend Jasmine there... it was so fun to see the girls so giddy about the princesses!

Obviously our favorite part! FROZEN!!! Callie was completely mesmerized... AND singing every song!

Just before we left, Auntie Boo put a little bit of make up on Bitty... and Gee did Callie's hair in a beautiful Elsa braid... it was so fun to see her get dressed up!

And just like that... naptime is over!  I hear a little voice calling "Moooooommmmmeeee" over the monitor.  Love and kisses to all!

Fabulous Florida!

Our wonderful vacation to Florida for 2015 has already come and gone... but what a fabulous time was had while we were there!  For those who don't know, we have the opportunity to travel to Naples, Florida with Phillip for Scoular every February as he attends meetings... it gives the family the chance to enjoy some warmth and sun away from the long dreary Kansas winters.  This year we brought Auntie Pup (my sister Stefanie) along as our "nanny"... we simply couldn't have done it without her!

First and foremost, I would like to post this... Yes, we did survive Florida Winter, when it got down to 38 degrees one night... it was pretty chilly, especially for these Kansans that packed for the beautiful 80 degree weather we're used to enjoying in Florida!

 I love these feet... the only thing missing in this photo are two little paws from our beloved Beans... but he was being happily weenie-sat by Miss Stephanie, our very favorite babysitter in Salina (of course, after our family!)

Our first day on the beach was PERFECT! Just as Florida always is... 80 degrees with a warm sunny sky.  I lathered the babies up with SPF 50... but failed to lotion up myself... which led to a very burnt back. I should have known better... I just didn't even think of taking care of myself!

Willie's first footsteps in the sand.  He was in awe!  He immediately sat down to see exactly what the funny new feeling in between his toes was.  He loved it! And he was so good to not eat any of it!

The two most handsome men I may ever know! I sure do love these boys!

My single earthly reason to live... for these people.  I never knew this kind of love could even exist!  Oh how I adore these 3!

Bitty being attacked by a bird on the beach (she really wasn't... but the timing of this photo had me giggling!)

And the reason for her being attacked... her brother was chasing the sea gulls! (Taking over from where Callie left off last year!)

Auntie Pup soaking up some sun for her engagement photos... This woman is a blessing and a saint.  She loves my babies and me... and she went out of her way to make this the best vacation!

Day 2 on the beach was much different than the first day!  This was the day of Florida's winter! We were in shorts and jackets to enjoy the sand and surf!  Willie was so fascinated by all of the different textures to walk on!

And Miss Bitty loved collecting shells! We were nearly the only people on the beach this day! The weather was right around 55 degrees for a high... but it wasn't going to stop us from enjoying the beautiful scenery!

Day 3 in Florida... Uncle Dooley (Dalton) came to visit, he was on his "spring break"... so here are the "teen parents" at the Naples Children's Museum!

Pup the Eagle!

My Bitty... her sure didn't feel well for most of the trip, she had the sniffles and a terrible cough... but, she was still just as sweet as ever! I'm so impressed with how well both of the children did!

Bitty did finally get around to chasing birds on Day 4 after Daddy finished his meetings!

My loves walking on the beach!

Bitty found her very first starfish! Which she promptly brought back to the room in a bucket (a gift that was given to us by the hotel!) we all thought this starfish was not alive because it was all dried out... however, after Callie went to bed that night... we looked in the bucket to find it had climbed half way up the side of the bucket!  It was terrifying! Luckily Dalton and Stef agreed to take a midnight stroll on the beach to release it back into the ocean... it still gives me the creeps to think about that thing climbing around in our hotel room!

Us...

I also got to have lunch with my long time friend (and bridesmaid) Annie Ermanis... she's currently living in Tampa and drove down to have dinner with me! It was SOOO good to catch up!  Obviously we were enjoying a little dessert here :)

Looking at the photo, I am reminded of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful family.  Having my children play with their great grandparents is one of life's greatest joys.  Also, getting to revisit the beautiful place where Phillip and I shared our Honeymoon is always a treat!

We had a great trip and cannot wait until next year... We love Florida!