Molly and Ryan
Hi Everyone! I haven't posted in a few weeks so I wanted to bring you up to speed in the lives of The Appleby's! With 3 kids we are nothing short of insane, exhausted and entertained! Here's a rundown of what's going on in our lives. Before I begin, if you've never been to our blog before, be sure to check out some of the old posts. Some of my favorites are "Why Won't God Give Me a Rice Krispie Treat", "Johnny Appleseed Never Said It Better" and there are lots of others about our kids, our first 10 years of marriage, etc.
Andy with the kids. I took the picture so I wasn't in it!
Andy certainly enjoyed Christmas! He is worse than the kids I think. He has been spending his time, Christmas money and gift certificates wisely... LOL! He's been buying all kinds of goodies on Amazon! I think he's gotten every obscure DVD a person could find. He also got a new iPod touch and he loves it. I must say it's fantastic and Andy, being the good father he is, even downloaded the new theme song to "Barbie and the Fashion Fairytale". 
Molly Ruth
Molly is growing like a weed! She's 5 now. I cannot believe she is 5!!! I seriously feel like she was just born. The time has gone so fast. She absolutely loves Pre-K these days...quite a stark difference from her sobbing first month of school. She's writing everything, learning cursive, counts and writes numbers to 100, learning to spell and enjoying writing out sentences and stories. They are spelled the way a 5 year old would spell them, but they are cute sentences and stories. After months of Katie's screaming, she's finally starting to like her. Tonight she gave Katie a bottle for the first time and loved every minute of it! 
Ryan
Ryan, I'm tired just writing his name. Ryan's name should have been "All Boy Appleby"! He is exhausting in every sense of the word. His favorite past time is pretending to be a superhero. Most of the time he's Spiderman, but sometimes enjoys being Wolverine, Silver Surfer or Green Lantern. He's decided he wants to have a Silver Surfer Birthday party when he turns 4. I'm not sure how I'm going to decorate for that theme. I do know that he's invited nearly all of Douglas County AND Champaign County to his birthday party as well as the waitresses as every restaurant and retail establishment we frequent. I don't know how I'll get a cake that big. Ryan has such a big heart, he is so sweet and loving, but just a wild animal. Since Katie has been born, it's been an adjustment for him. When Molly left for school he lost his best friend and I don't think he's adjusted to life with a colicky baby sister! I love spending time with Ryan, listening to his stories (which are great) and just being his mom. 
Katie
Katie is growing by leaps and bounds. In just a few days she'll be 8 months old! I cannot believe she has grown so fast! She's gone from being a cute little lump to a person with a personality who is passionate about moving! She wants to crawl and walk so badly. She sees Molly and Ryan moving and it's driving her crazy that she can't be with them. We've FINALLY gotten her to take a bottle which I thought would never happen. Katie has been a lot of work, she cries a lot, never sleeps and isn't happy very often, but with her I KNOW I am loved and needed... all the time! We're looking forward to her being able to walk or at least crawl and for her to talk. She gets so frustrated. I think she's going to be JUST LIKE MOLLY! Molly was a very, very, very easy baby, but she has a mind of her own and you are not going to change it! I'm pretty sure Katie got that from her sister....or did they both get that from me???? Hmmm....
Me with Katie - Yes, this picture is 5 months old!
And me, I've been busy doing all the things I do. I really enjoyed Christmas! Santa Clause came to our house on Christmas Eve and it was so fun to see the kids' faces when he was standing at the door. I've been working on our other blog A LOT. I'm sure most of you have read it, but if not, it's The Frugal Family and we teach people how to save money on everything in their everyday lives. The blog has been a success and we are really enjoying it! I just had a birthday and turned 32. 32!?!?! Really? I cannot believe that. I remember being 20 years old and running around with Andy in his truck, having a blast. Who would have thought when we were 20 years old that we'd one day live in a funeral home in central Illinois with 3 sweet kids, both teaching Sunday school classes and serving in Awanas? Andy is a deacon in our church...when did we grow up? Isn't it funny to think about those things... when you realize you are a real adult... you are the age your parents were when you were a kid? I'm just taking life one day at a time right now with a fussy baby. Trying to rest when we can and hoping to get my hair cut soon...I hope you all are doing well! I better get off of here..we're getting ready for an overnigh visit from Papa Jeff tomorrow and we're excited!
Thanks for reading!
Misty
