Zoe is 5!

Zoe is a whole hand old! She turned 5 last month and it hit mama and daddy hard. We can't believe how fast she is growing up. Five whole years!!! She was just a little baby!

Zoe Loves:

• Her family
• Her stuffed animals - Clifford, Violet, Yoshi, Pigeon and her Cheetah are some of her favorites
• Hot Dogs
• Corn Dogs
• Tortellini
• Mac and Cheese
• Playing with her friends
• The Lion King Soundtrack
• The Dolphin Tale Movies
• Going to Chick-fil-A
• Going to Sonic
• Playing games on the Wii with Daddy and Uncle Alex
• Playing outside
• Playing Spot it
• Pizza
• Going to the Park
• Dairy King
• Watching a movie or episode of a show over and over again
• Getting picked up from school by anyone but mom
• Brunch

Zoe doesn't like:

• Getting up in the morning
• Wearing jeans
• Going to bed
• Most healthy food
• Taking any medicine that isn't Tylenol or Motrin
• Going to bed

Zoe phrases:

• "Actually" - Example: Actually, I don't want to go for quiet time today, I can just stay out here.

Hopsotch

That messy bun though.

Snapchat fun with Mama

Haircut with Katie

Sunglasses at our first game of the season

Traveling Bug

Very concerned about airplane safety

Swimming Lessons

Happy Fourth!

Some of our friends came to visit!

Zoe got to be in the Princess Contest at the Hofbraufest!

Back to school shopping with Mom

Hello First Day of Pre-K 4

She played soccer this past fall.

Fall Days and Snow Days in November

Playing in the Breese Park

One with her brother because they love each other and sometimes show it.

She is clearly so loved by us and so many others. We are blessed to have Zo every day, even if she's a bit sassy. 

That's all for now. God is good!

Our Family is Growing!

In case you missed our announcement, our family is expecting another baby! Zoe is over the moon for the new baby. Zach doesn't know what's happening. When we told the kids, he stood over on the other side of the room with his pacifier in looking like he was unhappy about the situation. I am going to assume he was just tired and confused as to why Zoe was so excited.

The baby will be arriving in late September. We pray for a healthy pregnancy for mama and a healthy baby.

In case you were wondering, we aren't finding out the baby's gender. We will be surprised like with Zoe and Zach. It is very hard to surprise me so I like having that surprise to look forward to.

That's all for now! God is good!

How I Want to Remember Motherhood...

On Christmas Eve, I like to take pictures of the kids in front of the Christmas Tree. This Christmas Eve I jumped in the pictures with the kids and Nate was a good sport and took some pictures of me and the kids. Later on I was going through all of the pictures. A lot of them are blurry because of poor lighting but they are still cute. My kids are dressed in their Christmas outfits and the tree is so pretty behind them. I love these Christmas pictures. 

I mean look at that boy! Do they make them more handsome than him? I really don't think so.

Here's one that's a bit better of my sweet girl. She is just so silly when it comes to smiling in pictures. 

Anyway, while I was looking through the pictures, I found this one:

This picture is not hang on the wall worthy. It is blurry, no one is looking at the camera. Zach is about to destroy the wrapped gifts or the Christmas tree. I was looking at all those things and then I looked at my face in the picture. I'm so happy. Everything is a mess with this photo and I'm so happy. This picture pretty much sums up my life as a mom. It is a mess. It is hard. I'm trying to corral two kids and look somewhat put together. However, I'm laughing. In this moment I'm not thinking about how poorly this picture is going to turn out. I am not thinking about the gifts that aren't wrapped yet. I'm not thinking about the mess in the rest of the living room that I need to clean up before they get up in the morning to unwrap their gifts. I'm not thinking about the mountain of laundry that sits beneath us in the basement. All I was thinking about in that moment was how I love my babies and how much they were making me laugh. I hope that my time with my kids at home is mostly remembered like this. I hope that when I look back I remember the laughing and the sweet faces and not all the chores. I hope I remember motherhood like this picture.

That's all for now. God is good.

Things that happened in 2018!

2018 was a good year in the Wollenberg household. I think I am most thankful for a mostly healthy year for our family. Zoe has been given a good bill of health from her urologist and doesn't have to go back to get checked for 2-3 years.

Here are some things that happened in 2018 in no specific order.

Zoe turned four years old and Zach turned one. They are both growing like crazy. I feel like they are so grown up already. Sometimes I forget that Zoe is only four. She talks like she's sixteen some days. Today she told Nate and I that two of the Kindergarteners almost kissed. I don't think we're ready for that kind of drama yet. Zach is our climber and daredevil. He is also a charmer and a comedian.

We got to see a lot of our friends over the summer. I especially got to see a lot of my girlfriends from college. It was so nice to catch up. When we lived in McAllen we only could afford to visit family and now we are in the middle of the country so we can drive to see friends and they can come see us. I had my friends, Katie, Shannon and Rachel come to visit. We also took a trip to Michigan to see our seminary friends and visited Cincinnati on the way back. I was able to even see some friends from high school.

Zoe started playing soccer, making me a minivan driving, soccer mom. I embraced it. However, I much preferred when the weather was cold for soccer and not hot. I think indoor sports will be my favorite.

Zach went to his first Cardinals game over the summer. He is clearly already a fan.
Nate completed his second year as the pastor of Trinity in Hoyleton. He is SUPER busy but we still love it here so much! We are so blessed to be here.

We experienced our first Hoyleton Hofbraufest. It was awesome. The weather was perfect. Zoe competed in the princess contest, which meant she got to ride on a float in the parade. Nate lead the way for our church float which was fantastic. I took pictures and hung out with everyone watching.

I started about 700 new hobbies. Okay, it wasn't that many, but it made me busier than usual. I started crafting and selling some of my crafts. I so much enjoy making things for people, but I have never had a busier December. I think I will come up with a better way of doing things next year. I also started a podcast which has been on the back-burner but will be back in 2019!

Nate and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. It has been a crazy ride so far but there's no one I would rather ride the roller coaster of life with.

Nate got together with my in-laws and my mom to get me a trip to see CELINE DION IN CONCERT IN LAS VEGAS!!!!! This will take place in May 2019 but the gift was received in 2018 which pretty much made Christmas 2018 super fabulous. I have been wanting to see Celine in concert since I was a little girl. She is ending her time in Vegas, so the time is now! I was completely surprised and can't wait. I have the best husband. He is making one of my dreams come true and giving me a much needed break from the kids.

Thanks for supporting our family with your love, listening to my podcast and reading this blog! Happy New Year. That's all for now! God is good!

When You Think Hidden Valley tastes like Paste

This is just a random post so that the people that I tell about my homemade ranch dressing can find the recipe that I use. See, in my house we LOVE ranch dressing. The rest of my family will eat store bought. Mommy though thinks that it is WAAAAY too thick. I LOVE restaurant ranch dressing, especially Chili's. So, I scoured the internet trying to find a copycat. I came across this recipe and while I wouldn't say it is the same as Chili's, it is super delicious. I would recommend using real buttermilk and I water it down to the consistency that I like. Hope you like this recipe.

Recipe from Top Secret Recipes - You can click on the link to visit their website for this recipe.

1 teaspoon Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning (Buttermilk Recipe)

1 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon course ground black pepper.

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon paprika 

Directions:

1. Mix all together

2. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. (I like to wait overnight).

If you're like me and your family eats a crazy ton of this stuff. You can double, triple or quadruple the recipe. I quadrupled it the last time I made it and it worked out great.

That's all for now. God is good.