What does Brandon do??!!

This is the one question I hate to answer because it's confusing enough for me I can see why others are confused too. What does Brandon do?? Where does he work?? Where are you moving?? Why are you moving?? Ok maybe that's more than one question but its all related so here's my explanation with a little bit of news.

For the last 10 months Brandon has been training as a COT (County Operations Trainee) I believe that's the right name. This is a group of Trainee's that will soon be County Executive Directors (CED) for the Farm Service Agency which is a part of the USDA. All of the trainee's have now taken their test and passed so its time for interviews to start. In Brandon's group there are 10 of them and they start the interview process at Butler County.....All 10 will interview in Butler and then Butler selects who they want then next the 9 trainee's left interview in Monona County then Monona County gets to pick who they want, and then the 8 left go to East Pottawatame and so on and so on. All of the counties are here in Iowa. We do not know yet where Brandon will be placed but we know the possibilities and the order so here ya go

1.Butler County (Allison, IA (Waverly area)

2. Monona County (Onawa, IA (South of Souix Center)

3. East Pottawatamee (Oakland, IA( South of Omaha)

4. Freemont (Sidney, IA (AKA: Rodeo Town USA, Southwest corner of Iowa)

5. Fayette (West Union, IA (North East Corner)

6. Worth (Straight North on I-35 almost to Minnesota)

7,8,9, 10: To be announced]

Brandon starts interviews the week of Aug 10th, so hopefully sometime in the next month we will know where we are moving to. We know that God has a plan for our lives and knows where we need to be. Everything has been in God's time and his planning. One thing in particular we were very blessed to sell our house last spring.

Brandon is currently working out of the Marshall county office and is still considered a COT until he gets placed in his own office. Now for the answer to what he does.....haha I don't really know. For those of you that know my Dad, he will have the same position that my Dad has in Jasper County. But my Dad has had the same job for the last 25 years of my life and I still can't explain what he does. Something to do with Farmers and Farm Programs for the Federal Government, USDA. They kind of oversee and run the county office.

So I hope that answers a few questions and we will keep you posted with each interview.

Not Me Monday

Ok This is my first attempt at a Not Me Monday...so bare with me a couple Monday's :)
Last Monday I did not take both Teagan and Harper to Harper's 4 month appointment and try to keep control of 2 kids under 2. Not me I would have got a sitter for Teagan so that the nurses didn't have to put up with both my children. And I wouldn't want Teagan to have to see her poor baby sister get shots, I mean I do work at the clinic and I know how EXTREMELY annoying it is when people bring in multiple children to appointments, so I would never do that, nope not me!

Then after Harper's Doctor appointment I would not have dropped both her and Teagan off at the sitters, Nope that would be cruel to send a child to the sitters that just had 4 shots in her leg, what if she gets fussy.

Last Wednesday I did not stop by Wal Mart after work and buy Teagan diapers. Nope Not me after all I said I wasn't going to buy her anymore disposable diapers. Why would I buy her diapers, I mean she's 18 months old and she potty's on the big girl potty, and I have cloth diapers that I can use, so Nope not Me I did not buy her diapers. And if I would buy her diapers I wouldn't stop at Wal Mart because it is more convenient because I hate going in that store.

I could easily wash cloth diapers because I'm not behind on laundry, Nope Not Me.

Thursday I did not miss my horse lesson because I didn't realize until 9 pm that day that it was even Thursday, So glad I know what day of the week it is.

And No I did not miss church on Sunday because I had to start writing a paper that was due that night for my class. I would never wait til the last day to write a paper that I have known about for 3 weeks, So glad I did not procrastinate til the last minute!!

Finally I am so glad that I wasn't anxious all week thinking about what to write for my first Not Me Monday. I didn't think about it at all after I read my first Not Me Monday on a couple of other Mom blogs. I obviously have more important things to do then think about blogging.

Our new dishwasher

Since we are renting short term we do not own a dishwasher which is kind of a pain, especially with bottles and our busy lives. Dishes seem to pile up quickly and there is never enough time in the day. Brandon and I have always had the deal he does dishes, I do laundry. We also decided our next place dishwasher is on the list of requirements. In the mean time however I decided to get a new dishwasher as you can see in the picture :) We are still working out some of the kinks but so far it I am pretty impressed. The brand name is Teagan if your looking to buy.

The PERFECT and NOT so perfect sleepers

With Teagan I pretty much thought I was the perfect parent when it came to a sleep routine. I had it down I set a bed time, set naps, and she did it without a fuss. I admit that when other moms told me that their child wasn't sleeping through the night yet that I thought they must be doing something wrong because Teagan sleeps 13 sometimes 14 hours a night plus 2 good naps during the day. I was a little jealous though and thought maybe I was to strict with Teagan because she hated to cuddle and would never fall asleep in my arms. Nope Teagan has to be laid down in bed before she'll consider falling asleep.
Now Harper is a totally different story. Her sleep routine is becoming more and more frustrating everyday and the thing about it is that it wasn't always this way. When we brought sweet little Harper home she was a good sleeper Brandon was convinced we were the perfect parents and had 2 perfect little girls that slept through the night aww. Harper was sleeping from about 10 pm to 5 am so about 7 hours (and yes I just used my fingers to count how many hours that is :) Then about 3 weeks ago we decided to go out on a date with no kids and stay at a hotel in Des Moines after Brandon's training was over. We left Harper with Grandma and Papa Kennedy...I am convinced this is when everything went wrong. (Haha just kidding mom...I love you and we enjoyed having you watch the girls). So that night she woke up around 2 am and then again at like 6 am. This has gone on for 3 weeks now....Harper wakes up once during the middle of the night about 3 am and then again at 5 am. Ok so I know your all saying that's not too bad for a 4 month old.....but now it is getting even worse.....the last 3 days we have been up at 2 am, 4 am and 6 am. Grr I hope it gets better soon!!!

Harper is gaining such a personality now though she is super sweet and giggles and smiles all the time!! She just loves to eat 24/7 and be held all the time :)

Drive 9 miles North....What???!!

Well I am back up and running, last week I was without internet. Which would be no big deal if I didn't take online classes! (ugh I was frustrated!!!)
So our internet service is through Verizon and it has worked out so handy and really we have never had any problems until last week. So when I called Verizon last week the guy told me I wasn't close enough to the tower so I needed to drive 9 miles north to download some new program. This was suppose to help me get a better signal I suppose. But let me ask.....how do you drive 9 miles north with a Desk top computer??! The guy went on to ask if I had any friends...I said nope no friends. Well I guess that's not true but none that live 9 miles north. I decided I would borrow my parents lap top and drive 9 miles north and download whatever I need, but fortunately not quiet sure how but as of now I have internet without driving.
So this all happened Wednesday and of course my first post of the week for class is due on Wednesdays and I had no way to get internet especially since I had to get to work. When I called my professor she asked why mine was going to be late and I tried to explain it to her and she just laughed and said have it done by the end of the week :) I should have just told her the dog ate my homework!!
Anyways I will try to post some more about the girls later now that I have internet.

4th of July Weekend

How much fun can you jam pack into one weekend?? We sure tried this past weekend enjoying all of the July 4th festivities. I was the official photographer for the weekend and I got plenty of pictures to remember July 4th, 2009.

Here is my sister Alicia and my Mom and I with my 2 daughters Harper and Teagan. We spent part of Saturday afternoon at the park in downtown Iowa City.


Harper enjoyed watching the fireworks once she got over the initial shock of being woken up by the loud bang!

Teagan enjoyed most of the fireworks until it was just too late and she fell asleep in Daddy's lap.

Teagan running through the fountain in downtown Iowa City. She didn't care it was cold out she had a lot of fun getting wet!!

Papa Kennedy snuggling up with Harper :) I love this picture!!!

It was pouring down rain at the Nevada parade but we enjoyed it anyways and I am pretty sure Teagan got way more candy because there weren't as many people.

Campfire at our house. Roasting marshmallows with Daddy.

Friday afternoon Brandon set up our pool and him and Teagan played. As long as she didn't put her face in the water she loved it!!!!!

Grandma Sowers came over and brought big bubbles for Teagan to play with :)

We had a great weekend with family and enjoyed every minute of it!! It went by so fast and the weather was crazy. Saturday was cold and we were wearing sweatshirts all day and Sunday was hot and we were wearing tank tops!! All weekend we enjoyed grilling out and campfires, swimming, the parks, parade, fireworks and potluck at church. That was enough to tire us out!!!! I even did a complete house cleaning on Friday but looking around now you would never know it haha the joys of having 2 kids. (I should have taken pictures when it was clean :)

Where did the last 18 months go??!!

Teagan is officially 18 months old as of July 1st. I look back and wonder where the time went. 18 months ago on New Years Day 2008 Teagan was born at 8 lbs 8 oz and lots of hair :) I used to sit on the couch and hold her and cuddle her and watch her sleep most of the day away and occasionally clean up a nasty blow out. Now I am running around trying to keep up with her. She has the whole "No" thing down and she's miss independent who doesn't think she needs her mom anymore. She would much rather walk then be carried and she climbs on and explores everything. Its amazing how quickly they learn.