Congrats Mike!

This deserves a post on it's own. Mike's fiscal year ended in July and he ended up number 1 out of 58 is his company with almost $2 million GMD. I am soooo super proud of him and all his hard work. There were many stressful days for him, vacation days spent dealing with issues, hot (like over 112 degree) days spent outside working with his guys doing installs and sleepless nights of calling in propane deliveries and dealing with problem equipment. But, Mike is such a hard worker and wants everything to be just perfect.

His company had a big get together for all the sales guys this past week at their corporate office area in Kansas City. He received an award for being #1!



This is a picture of him and John Loeb (who was #2 and lives here in Chandler) with their awards!!

Congrats Mike, we are so proud of you and we managed to survive while you were away!!

A Whole Lotta Posts In One

Wow! It has been some time. There hasn't been too much going on, but a lot to update.

A couple of weeks ago, Papa Ron and Nana came to visit the kids. Well, they actually came to meet the newest grandson, Sam. It was a fun filled weekend with lots of family time. The kids really enjoyed their visit with them. We usually rotate houses for each day they are here and everyone gets a chance to host. We hosted Thursday because I don't work, so they can come to our house when they land and then everyone can come over after work. We had pizza and I actually had some. It has been a YEAR since I have had pizza. It was as delicious as I remember, but I did wake up feeling like I had a hangover. Oh well, I will have it again sometime, but just not as often as I did a long time ago.
Anyway, we did get a family shot:

Apparently my nephew likes to do a thumbs up in all his photos! Ha!!

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Noah has been doing ok in his big boy bed. We have had some hiccups along the way. He is waking up in the middle of the night more often now. He used to sleep through the night, but not anymore. A lot of times he thinks there are bugs in his bed. We had to go and buy new sheets, because he would see big blobs and think they were bugs. Last night was particularly bad. He was up screaming for over an hour.  Part of the problem was that Mike had been gone for 3 days and he didn't get home until after the kids went to bed last night and he went in there and at that point, Noah just wanted daddy.  Noah is a smart kid and if you start with any bad habits, it only takes one night of sleeping in there to get it to be a daily occurrence, so we had to just keep going in and telling him that it was ok and that he could sleep just fine on his own. It is still rough, it is still an adjustment for him and it is just a phase (or at least that is what I have to tell myself).

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We bought electric toothbrushes for the kids last week. If I would have known that doing this would cause them to want to brush their teeth a million times a day, I would have done it sooner. Nonetheless, they really like brushing their teeth.


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Mike pulled his first sweet potatoes from the garden.

I baked one up and it was great. Looking forward to the fall when we will start getting the rest!

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Mike was gone for a couple of days, so the kids and I went to the mall to get new kicks! I feel like we are always buying shoes!! Ava has been walking on the balls of her feet and it is causing her arches to hurt. I really need to take her to the doctor. In the meantime, we bought shoes that fit her now and not ones to grow into. The ones that she has to grow into are just too loose and couple that with how she has been walking and we were having daily issues. Noah had to get in on the action too because he is down to 1 pair. Never a good thing in this house!!

Ava Sang

Ava goes to a church run Pre school. So part of the curriculum is going to Chapel twice a month. They learn a story from the Bible and at the end of it they sing a song that they learned in class. Last year, Ava would not sing. She would not move her hands. She would not smile. She would just stand there looking a little scared. I bribed her with many toys. We even bought one and kept it out so she could see it. I would bring it to Chapel just in case she would sing. Nope, nope, not having it. The very last Chapel last year, she did move her hands just a little.

So, this year, I was hoping that she would have matured a bit and would sing. We recently went to Toys 'R' Us for an outing and Ava saw a baby stroller that she wanted. I told her she could have it for Christmas or if she sang at Chapel.  She would just respond by saying, "I will just wait until Christmas mommy". That was code for, I am not going to sing.

Yesterday was the first Chapel of the year and we talked about the stroller before school and she was still saying that she wanted it for Christmas. Then, we went to Chapel, listened to the story and all the kids got up front to sing their song and guess what, Ava SANG!!! Que the bells. I was so excited, I teared up a bit. This is big!

After they were all done, I went up to her and told her how proud I was of her and told her we would make a trip to Toys 'R' Us after dinner.

After dinner, we went and she picked out her stroller.

She was sooooo excited and she is taking her baby in her stroller everywhere. I just love seeing how happy this makes her.

I know the image is a bit blurry, but she is the one in the front with the purple shirt pointing to herself.

I am such a proud mama!

Ava's First Day of Pre-K

Yesterday was Ava's first day of Pre School. She is going Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9-12. We had the option of sending her 5 days a week, but decided that 3 days would be better for her. She has the rest of her life of school.  She did great. I think I was more nervous than she was. I remember always being nervous on the first day of school. You never know what to expect. She had a great time and is excited to go back. Always a plus. She has some friends in her class from last year too, so I think that helps.She is growing up too fast!

Hastag Happy

Not sure if you all have joined the Instagram party, but if not, you should. I love it. You can follow me at: @saraleptuch

Here is a post in hastags from the past week or so of what we have been up to:


#youhavetotakeapictureandframeitofallmyanimals


#prekorientation
#mylittlegirlisgrowinguptoofast


#iwilldounassistedpullupsbytheendoftheyear
#rougefitnessassistedpullupband
#lookscanbedecieving
#thisthingwillkickmybutt


#noaheatingataco
#waitnoahisacutallyeatingsomething
#wishiknewthatputtinganythinginatacoshellwouldgetmykidstoeat
#wemayhaveeatentacos5daysthisweek


#siblinglove
#needisaymore


#fashionista


#toocutetoonotpost
#shelovesherdolls

Noah's Big Boy Bed

We finally made the plunge and put Noah in a big boy bed yesterday. I knew the time was coming. Not because he was climbing out or anything, it is just the natural progression. I wanted him to be in a big boy bed before we started potty training. I guess you can say potty training is our end game. We first started with a monkey clock in his room. That was for 2 reasons: 1. to keep him in his room long enough for us to get showered in the morning and 2. So that he could practice following direction. He has to wait for the monkey to open his eyes to call for us.  Now, we put him in his big boy bed. Next is to get rid of his sleep sack and finally, we will potty train. I am currently aiming for the week in October that Ava is off for school break. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, let's go back to Noah's big boy bed... I knew that I wanted to do this after our trip to LA because Noah is a creature of habit and likes things a certain way. (Gee, I wonder where he gets that from?!) On Thursday we made a trip to Target and bought some new sheets. Even though he wants "Mater" sheets, I just bought something that will match his room and he likes his animal crib sheet, so we went that direction for now.  We pulled the mattress out from the garage (they were in plastic bags) and put them in the house to get him used to the idea and Saturday before nap time, we got his bed all made up and ready.

Bed without the side railing

All set up and ready to go.

Now we have been pumping this up. I told him that he had to wait for mommy or daddy to get him before he could get out of bed and if he did, he would get a treat when he woke up. (We do a lot of bribing around here) So we did our usual nap time routine and put him down. Easy peasy. No problems, no fights. Yay, round 1 was a success!

Then came bedtime. We started gathering the animals and getting everything ready for bed and Noah said, "Put my bed back together, put my bed back together, I don't want to go to bed." Yikes, I was a little worried, but we told him what we were going to do, then we read books and put him down and NOT A PEEP! Success. Now let's see how the rest of the week goes. He will sometimes be ok right away and then digresses, but always comes around.

I just never know how the kids are going to do with things. Ava was easy and I forget that Noah isn't Ava sometimes and he doesn't do things like she did, so it is always stressful for me.

Yay for Noah. One more milestone met without too much heartache, except for mama. My little boy is growing up so fast.