Tomorrow is the big day!!

Tomorrow I will be saying goodbye to Facebook for a while. How long, I don't know. What I do know is that it has taken up way too much time in my life. Time that I should be spending with my daughter, husband, house etc.

Tuesday afternoon we departed for Michagen. I spent the day cleaning, packing and attempting to keep my daughter, who decided to be awake from 1-4 that morning, awake. 4pm rolled around and we were pulling out the driveway. I was so nervous for how Olivia would do in the car. She did amazing. She was awake for a little while and fell fast asleep just north of the cities and proceeded to sleep until Duluth. It was late when we got to Duluth but Olivia enjoyed seeing the "BIG SHIPS" and Christmas lights on the drive. It was so nice to talk with Joel. I realized we don't spend that much time actively communicating during a week. I read a statistic that the average married couple only spend 47 minutes actively communicating per week! Wow... We arrived in Ironwood just after 9pm making very good time. We checked into the motel and Olivia was determined to go "Swimming" in the hot tub before it closed at 10. We were able to get our toes wet which was nice after such a long car ride.

The night was really tough, Olivia didn't fall asleep until just before one. Joel's CPAC machine is broken so he didn't have it with which left about an hourish of sleep for me. I was in a haze all morning. It was nice to see the cousins at the funeral. Grandpa Anthony was having a very hard time which was hard to see. We  left just after lunch and started our commute back to the Cities. I drove this time and it was nice once again talking with Joel. We talked and talked and talked, Olivia fell asleep quickly in the back seat and before we knew it we were back North of the cities.

We made an impromptu put stop in Forest Lake at my cousin Tammy's and met her new son Cole! He was so adorable and it was really nice to just relax and not drive anymore. We eventually got home just after seven, about 7 hours traveling for the day and it was so nice to be home.

Olivia's schedule is very off in terms of sleeping which happens with the Holidays. But I'm hoping that we can reset it a little tonight. These 11 or later bedtimes are getting hard! Even with her sleeping in until ten. We're having a little trouble with her meds for her ears.. She doesn't like to take them.

I'm looking forward to my time away from Facebook, it's time to recenter. Prepare for the baby arrival in April and spend time with Olivia and Joel. So many hours spent looking at a website... I feel terrible that I have let it get to this point. Wishing all of you out there in cyber land a good night and a happy new year. I am extremely excited for what 2011 has in store for our family!

God Bless,

Love,
The Kangas Family.

Facebook, funerals, double ear infections and then some..

The holidays were relaxing this year. Did I just say that, Holidays = Relaxing. Normally Joel and I are carting Olivia to so many Holidays by the end of the 4 day Christmas time stretch we just want it to be done and over. This year was so different. My dad's family got together a few weeks prior. It wasn't the same but it was GREAT at the same time! Joel's Kangas side did not get together with the extended family this year. Instead we had fun at his parents eating appetizers and chowing down on Tacos while watching Disney Movies. We did decide to not go to the Zaine (my mom's side) Christmas this year. Olivia doesn't do as well with this grouping and it just gets to be a ball of stress for me. I literally broke down in tears last time. Wasn't happening again. Although we missed seeing that side of the family it was very nice to just have a relaxing Christmas day. My entire family was able to take a nap! This NEVER happens.. It was so nice!!!

Joel caught a bad cold and is finally getting better, just in time for Olivia and I to catch it. She woke up yesterday saying, "Mommy, my ear hurts soo bad!" Instantly knew ear infection. Sure enough, it's a double ear infection. She's been on antibiotics now since 4pm and is doing much better. We were up for a marathon 12-3:45ish this morning but I'm hoping it will work out well and cause her to sleep in the car ride today.

My grandmother passed away New Years Eve and the funeral is tomorrow in the Upper Peninsula of Michagen. 5 hours up 5 down. I'm hoping that Olivia is going to do all right for the drive. We have borrowed my mom's car DVD player which is a huge lifesaver for long trips. I've got a slew of DVD's ready for this afternoon and laundry/cleaning is going in attempts to get the house looking somewhat decent before we leave today. Running on minimal sleep and a cold brewing I'm hoping the drive is also going to be nice to me! We went to Wausau the day after Christmas and Olivia did fantastic. The drive back I was in the backseat watching movies with her and came to the conclusion that we definitely need a pillow back there! I'm hoping to stop a few times on the way up, just to stretch my legs, walk around etc. Long drives have been one of the tough things for me this pregnancy..

Which leads me to Facebook. I'm hopelessly addicted to it. I was prior to staying home and now being home all day I've viewed it as my link to the outside world when in all honesty it's a way to throw time down the drain. So much time I should be spending with my daughter. I gave up Facebook for Lent last year and the plan was to do the same this year. Then I realized that this was the same as saying I'll work out two weeks from now, or start walking the dog more regularly NEXT month.. New years resolution is a much better goal. It's going to be a huge year for us and I need to be preparing Olivia, the house, everything for it. So for a while I will be saying goodbye to Facebook. I hope this is like other things I have given up in the past. Cable TV for example. The first few weeks were terrible and then it wasn't so bad. I will miss everyone and keeping up with them, but we still have emails and phones.

With that I wish you all a Happy New Year. Please say a prayer for us today that the drives go smoothly and safely.

God Bless,

Love,

The Kangas Family.

Christmas..

What happened to Christmas? People are so worried about buying this gift and that gift they are not taking time to slow down and enjoy the season!! Today in Apple Valley cars were whipping around corners like crazy.. One nearly plowed my daughter down in a crosswalk.. Seriously people. Driving like mad men isn't going to get you there that much faster.. I'm very grateful to be able to stay home for the rest of today. Maybe make another Christmas dish. It's sad to see what this Holiday has come to. I wish people could slow down and appreciate it. Maybe god will send us another snow storm and snow us in for a few days..


God Bless,

The Kangas Family.

Wow.. It's been a while!!

Life has been really great! Joel helped me to finish painting two out of the last three rooms in our house! It's such a blessing to have them done! The basement is my new favorite place in the house. Olivia's playroom turned out adorable and my dad bought Olivia art for Christmas which just finished the room to a T! I picked up paint last weekend to finish the dresser. It was very poorly painted with a black crackle finish on the drawer fronts but is a BEAUTIFUL sturdy dresser. I'm going to paint the bottom black and pick up some new drawer pulls and that is going to go in the nursery upstairs. Then we'll move the other dresser back down. :)

The house has really come a long way in the past few weeks. I've been working on major decluttering. Call is nesting, call it whatever you want but wow. I am known to keep onto things for much too long. And these past few weeks it's been the opposite, if we aren't using it or don't plan to it goes two one of two places, garbage or donation. Which leads me to my next realization, it's a lot easier to keep a house clean when you have less stuff!!


I've been going to the gym about 5 times a week, last weekend I wasn't as good as I should have been with my working out but today I hopped right back in and had a great workout. I have a workout DVD I'm hoping to try this afternoon if the little one allows :). I feel so much better having started to work out. My back pain has decreased probably 75% which is amazing, I have more energy and I'm in a much much better mood!!! Working out is my "me" time. Something that I had lost in the last year. I look back on my pre-pregnancy pictures and think, "How did I let myself get to that point?" I just can't believe I let it go on so long. I'm so much healthier now that I am working out and I'm also a better mother for it. I have so much more patience and have so much more energy to keep up with my EXTREMELY active 2 1/2 year old.

Speaking of Olivia, in the past month or so we cut out naps. Olivia's friend Norah is a LOT like her and her parents had done the same thing so we decided to try it. Wow does it ever make a difference. It's like having two different children! Before I was struggling for 2+ hours to get her to take a nap, which she would then sleep much too late and not want to go to sleep until 10-11pm.. She's two... That's a VERY late bedtime even though we would start the process around 8pm... Now she goes down relatively quickly and sleeps between 10-12 hours. I have had time with my husband, time to sleep, time to clean in the morning or just to enjoy a cup of coffee. Things I didn't realize I missed so much.

Christmas cards are in the mail, the people in the AV area should be getting them today, most other people tomorrow. I'm still very frustrated with Petco and them not returning my 4+ calls/messages about my photo order being incorrect. Gotta love it!

We're off to the grocery store. Big cooking day for us! Ham, twice baked potatoes and bacon wrapped green beans!! Yummm!!!!

God Bless and Merry Christmas to all!!!

Love,

The Kangas Family.

Here come the Holidays!!!

I love to bake. I always have and as of recently I've loved it even more!!! I think the pregnancy cravings have certainly started. For the past few days all I have wanted was a russian tea ball and a cup of coffee. So what did Olivia and I make this morning, Russian Tea Balls!! They turned out so tastey, my husband is silly... They are his least favorite cookie!

This morning has been my typical Monday morning, even though it's Tuesday. I tend to get a LOT of cleaning and organizing down on Monday's. It has been a long day of all of that. Olivia and I had a great morning though of playing. I was so proud of her last night, we took her to get her hair cut which is normally a HUGE ordeal. She was sooo fantastic!! No tears, listened to the stylist and best part the MoP top is GONE!! My baby girl has an adorable bob and her bangs are about 3/4 of the way grown out! It's so hard to not just cut them. But now with her new cut it makes it much easier.


Another huge plus of this week is that the furnace ordeal is finished. Mr. Deeb came yesterday to finish the ductwork. We ended up having two large return vents to the house and it has made the world of a difference!!! When our house was set at 68 before it would be freezing. With the new furnace and duct work done it's toasty warm! No more space heaters, life is good!!

Some things I have learned in the past two years...

I recently saw a friends "note" on facebook about life after college and not having all of the answers. I really loved it and it made me think about how much my life has changed since college. Back in Fall of 2008 I had my choice of 4 jobs, all at great companies with fantastic pay, benefits, and educational assistance to go back and get my MBA. The economy took a HUGE nosedive and it left me soft-listed at each employer. Next to be contacted when they opened the position, or hiring outside again. Flash forward to 2010, still in contact with said employers. They still are not accepting applications or interviewing, some of the departments having been shut down completely or outsourced.

For the last year I have been teaching pre-school. I left a position making good money to be an Assistant Director at a childcare center. One of the things I have learned since college: Always Always Always... Get EVERYTHING in Writing. The position which I accepted never came to be and the result was making 30% less than I was hired on for, should have had asked for it in writing... Amost 50% less than the job I left it for. Which leads me to my next item I have learned post college: NO Job is EVER Beneath You. I was grateful for my time at the childcare center in many ways. The main being I am a much better mother because of it. Having learned early childhood development from the ground up has been a great asset and blessing in raising kids. After college I had this "idea" of what life was going to look like. I wasn't going to accept anything under $43k/year, with educational assistance, great benefits etc.. Many of my peers being in the same boat. But this economy is not the same as it was in 2007 or even 2008. Life has changed so much since then. Any job is a great job. Whether you are working in a childcare center or at the local grocery store. A job is a job. Because of my time at Kindercare I have lost the almost stuck up edge about having my degree. Because you know what? In this economy people working at McDonald's have their 4 year degree. If you have a great job, with great benefits, please don't look down at the people that may change your child's diaper or serve your food.

Which leads me to my next section on what I have learned; STUFF.. And the obsession our Society has with it.  Joel and I were very lucky after school, we had a FANTASTIC real estate agent, and friend, who helped us to find our house. We also had some great advice; Buy What You Need.. Not necessarily What you Want. Sometimes these are the same. I look back at our home-buying experience and we could have easily bought a larger house, that was more finished which would have been so much easier and so much nicer. The house we bought is a work in progress and you will often times hear me venting and complaining about the fact that the furnace broke or this that or the other thing. But what it comes down to is we got a great house, which is completely in our means and it is less than we were paying renting. This decision made it immensly easier when times got tough. I lost my job and we're now down to one income. Had we made a different decision about our house I wouldn't have been able to stay home with my kids. For that I am very grateful.

The Novelties, cable TV for instance. Joel and I used to be addicted to TV. It was always on in the background at our townhouse and the baby would always be in the background watching it as well. When we moved to our house we decided against cable. Partially because of the astronomical price in our area for it and partially because we wanted to be different at our new place. It was extremely hard for the first few months but now you don't see us watching TV. We also don't let our daughter watch live TV, some people thing I am crazy for this. But hear me out, advertising geared towards young children is 60% sometimes more about negative food choices. Different restaurants, Danimals yogurt, this that or the other thing. When you take that out and show the SAME shows it puts control back with the parents on what to expose your child to, like sugary cereals.

Looking back at me two years ago I feel like I am a different person. I am grateful for the struggles and hardships we have encountered because it has caused us to adjust our lifestyle to being more realistic. We don't eat out nearly as much, we don't buy a lot of nice clothes or toys, accessories, but we are happy. Very happy and that's what matters in the end.

Love,

From the Kangas Family.

Watching a Grizzly Bear catch a Salmon, amazing!!!

Oh what a 24 hours it has been at the Kangas household. Yesterday was election day!! I was planning on running to the grocery store with the kids. They were thrilled because we got the "car" cart! They were so cute driving as a navigated the isles looking for ingredients for a few new recipes we're trying out this week. It was so warm out yesterday we decided to throw out the rest of our plans for the morning and hea to the Zoo. The last few times I have taken Olivia and Ben it has been too cold to tackle the outside trails. The weather was just perfect.

The Zoo is under extreme construction in anticipation for some new exhibits! There is the penguin exhibit a new Target educational center and much much more. I've said before how great a value the MN Zoo is and I will say it again. It truly opens the kids eyes up to things they typically may not be exposed to. We walked in and immeadiately headed to the Woodland Adventures Playgroud. This new to 2010 playground was commissioned by General Mills and the children LOVE it! The great thing about yesterday was it was just us and another little boy playing there!! We had it all to ourselves! :)

The other little boy who was playing with us was also Ben and our Ben and the new Ben hit it off instantly. They were running around the playground, jumping, skipping, swinging, having a fantastic time. We headed over to Russia's Grizzly Coast next and saw one of the most amazing sights!! The smallest of the grizzly bears was swimming in the pool in front and was chasing LIVE SALMON! The kids and I actually got to see him catch a salmon and eat it!! It was so cool to watch!

The kids did not want to leave the zoo but we had to get home for lunch, I had made homemade chicken nuggets the night before. Ben pretty much fell asleep eating.. My Olivia, not so much, finally fell asleep two hours later.

I was planning to make a ham for dinner last night but I noticed on Facebook the Panda Express that had just opened in Apple Valley had FREE meals all day. As a true lover of this restaurant I decided to scratch the Ham and brave it in the line of a bajillion people. The line only took about 30 minutes and we met some great people when we were in line. Olivia was mad at mom because she was not supposed to stand in the street, but on the sidewalk because it was safer and we were standing in line on the street. Couldn't help but smile at this :). The food was incredibly worth the wait, the people were so kind and helpful and the service was TOP NOTCH! The Kangas family will definitely be returning to the Panda Express in Apple Valley.

After Panda we headed to the voting polls, the election judges even gave Olivia a "Ballot" and as mommy and daddy were filling out their ballots she got to sit and fill hers in too! When asked who she was voting for her response, "Dora... Mickey... Minnie.. " :)

The funny thing about faith..

Yesterday I found myself at a crossroads. At an all time low. For the past months I have been struggling with my faith. Forgetting what it was that kept me going to the Orthodox Church, it's the fellowship, the family that your church in a sense becomes. The ability to be completely pulled up and carried when you are going through a struggle by those around you. The people who have reached out to me in the past 24 hours are a life-line. They have expressed there same frustrations, the fact that they have been right there with me, something I truly desperately needed. They have offered words of encouragement, suggestions on the upcoming years and I am so grateful to having such an amazing network of support. Not only to my Orthodox friends but also the ones who were there to say we love you and no matter what we will support you through this and ultimately with whatever decision you decide to make.

Before jumping ship ( ;)) to another religion I have a lot of work to do. Currently 18 weeks pregnant with our second child I have felt myself torn religiously and in doing this it has put me at a pause with baptizing baby #2 in a specific faith. I have the next months to really decide what path it is going to be. I need to rediscover the Orthodox Faith. It is rooted in tradition, this strong root can sometimes leave it seeming monotonous..Sometimes you think, did we have to sing that hymn three times.... in three different languages? But there is meaning in all of it. I have lost my touch with that meaning.

I have grown up in this faith and gone to hours of Sunday School, attended St. Mary's camp for 12 years. I feel like I shouldn't be at this place right now but I imagine faith is like anything. You need to keep constantly educating and keeping yourself current with it, otherwise you will lose it.

God Bless, and good morning.

The Kangas Family

Religously torn....

We just got back from church. Joel was working, which he works most Sunday's. And I tried to brave it at the Orthodox church with one parent. My daughter is extremely active and the 1 1/2 service gets to be a lot for her. The service today was two and a half hours long... I have a two and a half year old daughter. That is just too long to expect a child that age to sit, let alone quietly! When adressing this issue the response I got back was that's the way it's been done for 2,000 years. I don't know if kids sat better 2,000 years ago but as a parent I'm exhausted right now. I played the church dance for about 45 minutes in church with Olivia. Trying everything I could to possibly keep her quiet until she accidently let the kneeling bar down on the woman sitting next to us slamming her foot. We then went to the back of the church and eventually ended up outside. The cry room which the church has because it does not believe in nurseries did not help because the volume of the service was turned so high. None of the parents could keep there child in it. After two and a half hour I had a toddler on complete meltdown, now into her naptime and to be honest I was also about to lose it. We have recently been going to the Catholic church, Joel (my husband) is Catholic and I have felt for the first time in years as if I'm getting something out of the service. The constant in and out and trying to keep my daughter quiet leaves me craving more from the service. At Risen Savior they have a nursery which Olivia goes and plays and we pick her up at the end of the service.

To be honest I feel like I am turning my back on the religion I grew up on. I was raised Orthodox in the church, but now having a small child I don't know if I can do it. I've been told that part of having children in the church means the mother isn't going to be able to really be in church for a while. Sometimes years. Am I a bad person by saying I'm not 100% okay with not getting anything out of the service for that long? Working as a teacher for the past year from a developmental standpoint I can say 100% that expecting a child to sit and quietly for 2 1/2 hours is not appropriate.

Does this make me a bad parent? The fact that my child can't sit quietly for that long? I'm so incredibly torn. Part of me is upset with myself because my child will not sit still and quiet for that long but the other of my part is screaming... She's two years old... What do you expect of a two year old? I'm so incredibly upset and torn and I feel like my frustrations and concerns are not being heard.

Just at a loss for words....

Halloween, candy and parenting....

Halloween has never been a Holiday I've really preferred. We never really got into it growing up and in college, working for Res Life, we spent so much time policing the insane amounts of intoxicated students it definitely loses it's allure. The last two years as a parent Olivia did not really understand Halloween. Last year we were in Wausau. Olivia had just gotten over H1N1 so we did not do more than a few houses. This year however it has been completely different. She understands the Holiday so much more and last night we took her to "Trunk a Treat" at church. She had SUCH a blast, dressed up as SNOW White she went from car to car saying TRICK OR TREAT!!! It really was a great event! She hasn't left her princess dresses since. She originally was going to be Sully from Monsters Inc., her FAVORITE movie. But yesterday the costume which I looked a lot of places for and finally found at Once Upon a Child was not what she wanted to wear. Last minute I remembered some princess dresses my mom had given me which were Rebecca's and low and behold they fit!!!! It ended up working out perfectly!!

So last night Olivia got a LOT of candy from Trick or Treating.. I had made the decision to just let her eat a lot of candy this weekend and then it was going to disapear. I don't normally let my child have lots of sweets and should have taken this into consideration before I made this decision. Result, crabby, sugar high child who does not want to sleep. I'm not sure if I will do this again next year. Plus side, after the weekend we'll be done with the sugar high and I'm hoping she will relate it back to just being for a special occassion. Minus side is getting through the weekend.

I'm meeting up with some friends this afternoon at Cafe Latte. I'm really looking forward to having some "Adult" time. I completely love being home with Olivia but what I have found to be missing is the intellectual conversation. I'm not quite sure the solution to this issue. I've been considering going back to school and getting my masters, something that would definitely do the trick. I'd love to join a book group or maybe a mom group in the area. I'm sure that there are things like this in the area, just need to figure out where they are and how to get involved.

Overall it's been a busy weekend so far and it does not seem to have an end to the busy-ness in sight. Its one of those fantastic things about being a parent but I have found myself going to sleep right around 8 recently!

Happy Halloween everyone!!


Love, The Kangas Family :)

Here we come Minnesota ZOO!

We're taking on the ZOO today!! A MN Zoo membership is pretty much one of the most fantastic gifts a person can give someone, my mother has given me mine for my birthday the past two years :). It really opens the kids eyes to so many things they typically would not be exposed to! After our play date yesterday the kids went right down and slept hard! Ben was asleep when his mom came to get him. I had gotten Big Girl, from the Library. I swear the book could have been written about my sister and I. It was fantastic, I finished all 350 pages within 12 hours. That is one grateful aspect about being home with the kids. I'm able to really inhale books again! Something I haven't done in a very long time. I got a bunch of events on the calendar for us in the upcoming few weeks and am looking forward to seeing how the kids do at story times at the library. It is something I really want them to get better at. We've been reading to Olivia a lot more recently. I've found that she will sit through much longer books which is great! Her new thing is going to sleep while reading the Bible with Daddy, which is precious. It's great listening in and hearing these stories I grew up with from the same children's bible. I made middle-eastern beans and rice last night and it turned out incredibly well!!! I have a good amount of leftovers as well which I am looking forward to having a small amount of for breakfast! Have a great day everyone!

Playdate, Apple Valley McDonalds and more..

The morning really started out rough. With Olivia waking up at 5 am, then spending 20 minutes standing over the toilet vomiting (sorry for the gruesome details)... The kids weren't listening very well but we got a call from Jenn about a play date. I assumed it'd be at my house so I switched into MAJOR clean my house mode. Then it dawned on me she had a two month old baby... So my house was leaps and bounds cleaner and we headed to Jenn's for a play date. I got the two monkeys in the car, so nice that it is in the Garage now, and we were there in 7 minutes. It was great catching up with Jenn!! After about an hour we took the kids to AV McDonald's for lunch. I've really cut out almost all processed food from their diets but this was a great way for them to run off some energy for a while!! There is a GREAT play place at the AV McDonald's so it kinda gives a bit of a break to the Mom's :). My happenings book for 2009-2010 expires November 1st so I have a TON of coupons to use. I had two for McDonald's and we ended up between the two of us paying about $14 for food for three kids and two adults!! I'd say we did pretty well! Olivia was SUCH a trooper, she normally is apprehensive about going into the play areas, especially when there are older kids there. It took her about 15-20 minutes to warm up and then she was a PRO!! Running up and down and all around. The kids had a blast!! It was really a nice late morning-early afternoon even though it had a bumpy start!!

5 am wake ups... No thank you..

Soooo tired. Olivia decided to wake up yet again at 5 am this morning. When she does this she goes into these ONLY mom phases. Which is perfectly fine but sometimes Daddy can get up early right? No... Definitely going to need to drink lots of coffee this morning. Yesterday I purchased some washable tempra paint online at Discount School Supply. I got a great deal on it! So I'm looking forward to that coming soon!!! Much less expensive than buying the little tubes at Walmart and Olivia and Ben just love to paint. Ben should be getting here within the next hour. I'm hoping the kids are going to play well today. I'm banking on an earlier nap today though since Oivia has been up since 5 am. I really wish I would have got more cleaning done this weekend but what do you do? It was nice to relax a little. I've noticed that I don't get nearly as much cleaning done when Joel is here. Not sure why that is.. ? But he did an AMAZING job cleaning out the garage! My car actually fits in it for the first time in sooo long!! Dan and him also took about 3 trips to the DUMP on Saturday with a TON of junk that was left from the foreclosure (previous owners) and the remodel. It's so nice to have that out of that way!! I'm hoping to tackle the kids clothes next week. I saw that had a lot of Halloween storage bins at Walmart. I'm going to wait until next Monday, hoping they all go to 50% off since the season will be over. They were only $4 but if I can get them for $2? Hey, every penny counts!!! My other frustrating thing this weekend was finding out that the border in my bedroom I tried to steam off was STAPLED every 6 inches.. Really people? I just keep telling myself, we got a great deal, we got a great deal, we got a great deal!!

Kiddo calling!