Spring Fever

Hey, hey! Looks like I'm back to my old schedule of doing blogs! =) I can't believe it's May! The weather is warming up, the grass is growing, birds are chirping and we have been living in the USA for almost a year. Wow! In some ways it feels like our time in Australia was a lifetime ago but we also can't believe we have been back for a year already 'cause we sort of still feel like 'newbys'. Our friend Carolyn just arrived from Australia on Monday so we are getting a bit of an "Australia dose" with her. We will have lots of fun together and don't have to send her back until May 23rd! Thanks to her fiance, Tim, for letting us borrow her!

We have been busy as usual with the kids, work, church, friends and getting stuff done around the house. We have rearranged the garage and can now at least get one car inside but we have some more boxes to sort through so it may be a little while before Daniel gets his car in. We slowly get more pictures and things up on the walls and it starts to feel more like home.

Daniel and I have had the privilege of getting to go on several dates lately (our last was in December) and, by golly, we still like each other! Our friends Jason and Hallie watched the girls one night and we went out to eat at a fondue place...very fun. And just a few days later we tried out a new babysitter from our church while we went out to dinner with some friends. The girls really like her so I do believe we will be employing her again and we will go out on dates more often! We have been going through a marriage course at our church and are about to have the 5th week. It has been really great to set aside a time to focus on each other and our marriage amongst the usual 'life stuff' that often winds up taking precedence.

Carly is doing well...she is just 3 going on 13 so she really likes to test my patience and that of her father and sister as well at the moment. But, that being said, she is generally very gentle, giving, nurturing, cuddly and loves to tease, listen to music, dance, sing and make up songs, run all over the place, etc. I REALLY would like to harness some of that energy and have even 10%! She pretends that she is a princess and regularly pretends that Kate is her prince...obviously she does not get the whole prince/princess thing but, hey, she's 3. She makes me laugh every day. She is SUCH a social girl- every day she asks, "where are we going today?"

Kate is growing, growing...she is 15 months old now and believes she is every bit of 3 years old, like her sister. She likes to climb, RUN around and eat everything in sight. She recently yelled at me while she was eating, pointing at something on the table. After I went through about everything on the table, I discovered that she wanted the fork. I gave it to her and she proceeded to start eating her green beans with the fork with no problem. We ask her a question and she nods yes but it looks more like an fast Asian bow. She says 'yeah' and 'mmmm mmmm' in response to questions, except the 'mmm mmm' is as if she were saying 'no' but she actually means yes. It took us a couple of days to figure out that one! She says 'more, please', sounding like 'ma pees'. She is very opinionated and is not afraid to scream at the TOP of her lungs when she wants to make sure you understand she is unhappy or wants something. Generally, she is a hoot. She has just stopped nursing and I'm pretty sure high school is up next.

In March we went to Georgia for Daniel's grandmother's funeral. We will truly miss her. But though it was certainly a sad occasion, we know that she would have been very happy to see the whole family together. It's always an entertaining time to travel with children but they did well despite the beginning of another cold for both girls. We had planned a trip up to Kansas City to see my family that weekend so we will visit in early June instead. My mom, Nana, came the next weekend on a spur-of-the-moment visit which was fun!

I will hopefully do a few more blogs shortly with other recent happenings...but that's all for now, folks!! Thanks to all of you for your love and support in our lives! Enjoy the pics! Mom

Kate...on Kate...

Well, hello friends! Kate here! I told Mom she could sit out this blog and I would do it. I am having lots of fun exploring all sorts of new things. I really like climbing...the couch, the table, the window sill, chairs, stools, anything you can think of. Yesterday I carried a stool across the room and climbed on it to get something I wanted. I'm also pretty sure I can fly. The other day I tried to fly off the couch but, of course, Dad caught me so I will have to test my theory another day when no one is looking! I like to push all the buttons on the tv box and I think it's hilarious to open the fireplace doors and eat the rocks under the gas logs before Mom comes to tell me off.

I like food. I like chicken and veg sticks, frozen peas, roast, turkey, cooked carrot, green beans, any fruit, crackers, cereal, puffs...pretty much anything Mom and Dad will give me. I have just gotten all 4 of my molars in so I can eat even more than before. I think I will try corn on the cob next! My hair is getting longer and Mom likes to put it in pigtails or a little ponytail on top of my head but I find it all a bit annoying!

I like to play with my big sister, Carly. She is nice to me and gives me toys and brings me my dummy when I'm crying and gives me more cereal when Mom tells her it's ok. But sometimes I mess up her toys and it makes her mad...I think it's kind of funny but Mom usually comes and moves me to another toy. Party pooper! =)

Last week I decided it was time to get this walking thing really happening. I have been testing it out the last 4 months so I figure I have it pretty under control. I have even tried running, though my legs don't keep up with me like I think they should. I like carrying toys from here to there and walking with Carly's baby stroller. I still like to see what things on the ground are by taste testing them. Mom didn't think that was so cool when I snuck in a pistachio at the park today (but we know I'm not allergic to pistachios now).

Well, it's my nap time now. Mwwwwwwwwwwah (blowing kisses to all of you). Love, Kate

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

...really. Raining, that is. Apparently the first official day of Spring is March 20th but we're well on our way. Temperatures have been up into the 50s and 60s lately and we're even supposed to have a few 70s later in the week! We are looking forward to Spring for a few reasons: we can go outside to play more often (without freezing our buns off), Carly can finally start to wear some of the short sleeved shirts she has been trying to wear all winter and, finally, cold and flu 'season' is coming to an end! Yay on all accounts!

We have certainly been sick a lot this year. Obviously with 2 kids, being out and about at shops, restaurants, church, school, etc, the chances increase drastically. However, we speculate that maybe it's been worse this year for us as well because Daniel and I haven't lived through winter in the USA for about 9 years and Carly and Kate never have. Our immunity to USA viruses is probably around 5%! So bring on Spring and Summer!

A couple of weeks ago, we started to "sleep train" Kate to sleep better. She was doing pretty well sleeping more in her bed and re-settling herself a bit better during the night for about a week before she got sick and it went out the window. We're still in survival mode of just trying to get sleep between coughing, feverish children and parents, so we'll have to start the sleep stuff again once Kate is well. But we know she can do it! She is really enjoying saying "bye bye" to anyone who will listen, particularly when I am on the phone and she hears me say it. She has said "Dada" for a long time but she is really calling out for Daniel more and saying hi to him when he gets home from work too, which is really cool to witness. I noticed the other day that anything she doesn't know or can't say the name for is "boh boh." She enjoys dropping food and saying "uh oh" and climbing on anything she can get on top of. For some time she has enjoyed peeling off the little foam bumpers on drawers and cabinet doors and chewing on them. We have pretty much removed all of the bumpers within her reach so she doesn't unexpectedly choke on or swallow one of them. She was pretty stoked this morning when she found some bumpers we had not removed on a bathroom drawer. She giggled, ripped it off and started chewing. I took that one out of her mouth and she almost had the other one off the drawer and in her mouth before I could get it. Yikes, this kid is fast! I can see that her reach is increasing..."uh oh".

Well the extra cool news with Carly is that it has been 2 weeks now sleeping without a nappy/ diaper on at night! We are pretty proud of her and she's pretty proud of herself too. It kind of came about by accident- we forgot to put a diaper on her one night and in the morning she was dry so we figured we'd try it again. That's kind of how it happened when she started not wearing a diaper at nap time in the middle of last year. Oh, how I miss nap time for Carly! She has not had a regular nap time since last year when I gave up after 3-hour battles to get her to have a nap. It's definitely more peaceful this way but she truly doesn't need one most of the time. If she's sick or really exhausted she will usually fall asleep in the car or on the couch but that's not too often. And if she does have a nap, she's not tired again until about 9pm!

We had two extra fun outings in the last couple of weeks! About two weeks ago we went to Chuck E Cheese for playgroup. The kids had a great time playing together, going on rides, playing games, eating pizza and trading in their game tickets for prizes. It was Kate's first time to do little rides like that so she though it was super-spiffy! The girls were exhausted so Kate quickly fell asleep in the car and, thinking I was very clever, I drove around long enough for Carly to fall asleep as well. Of course, being reminded of just how un-clever I really am, they both woke up and were rearin' to go the minute we pulled into the driveway!

Two Fridays ago we went to see Sesame Street Live with our friends, the Troyers (they have three girls- Hannah 8, Brinkley 5 and Allie 3). Carly and Allie have lots of fun together and are "stuck like glue." Neither Carly or Allie were too sure about all those characters at first but they were up and dancing before too long. Kate's response was one I wish we had gotten on video- she went crazy! She was smiling and clapping and bouncing up and down, pointing and 'singing' and just generally going crazy for about 5 minutes at the beginning of the show. After that, she just wanted to get up and walk around but for that 5 minutes she was on fire! Though we miss many things about Alice, one advantage of being in a bigger city is the ability to go do random fun things like that!

Well, that's it for now, friends! Take a look at some pics! Over and out- Mom

Girls

We received several cards for Valentine's Day. The girls enjoyed them all greatly but one particular singing card, from Grandma and Papa Steve, was a definite hit. Between the two of them, the girls have received 3 cards for birthdays and now Valentine's Day that all sing this same song. It's about being a princess...check out the videos.

Yesterday we were unpacking more boxes and came across a Barbie that a friend from Australia had given her. She had a crown but it was not on her head. As we put the crown back on her head, I said "See, she's a princess," to which Carly replied, "Yeah, she's a princess just like me!" As she continues to grow up, her sense of style is coming out more as well. This morning I asked her to get the oatmeal out of the pantry. It's the instant kind so each packet has a color corresponding to the flavor inside. She said, "Mommy, do you want red?" I said, "Any color is fine, you choose one for me." She came over and put the packet up against my shirt saying, "You need red, it matches your shirt." And shortly after, when we were getting dressed, she declared that she needed a shirt with flowers on it so it matched her water bottle with flowers on it! But just so you know she's not too girly, the other night as we were reading a book about professions and she said, "Mommy, I don't want to grow up. I want to be a firefighter." Now, I'm not sure what that says about firefighters but I thought it was a funny statement!

Kate has been taking more risks the past few days to walk across the room. She definitely knows that she's hot stuff though- when she gets to her destination, she looks up to make sure you're looking then smiles and giggles. Her newest 'word' is "uh oh."

Enjoy the pics and video! Mom

P.S. Just fyi- the last 4 are videos and they are pretty large...

Sidewalk Chalk

A few days ago, we had 60-degree (15.5C) weather for the first time in a while! Kate was asleep when Carly and I took some mail to the mailbox and discovered the beautiful afternoon. We celebrated appropriately by drawing all over the driveway with sidewalk chalk followed by a little painting outside in the sun. It was great fun and nice to breathe fresh air!

Kate had her 1 year immunizations today. The needles part was not fun, as usual, but she weighs about 19.8 pounds (9kilos) and is 29.75 inches long (75.6cm). That puts her still in the 75% for height but now down to the 25% for weight. But the dr said she is healthy so I'm sure it's just from all of the crawling, climbing, chasing and wrestling that she does around here! Carly and I have a case of conjunctivitis but it's not too bad. The worst part is the eyedrops! Carly locked herself in the bathroom this morning so I wouldn't put them in, but Nana suggested an easier way to put them in so it went a bit better this afternoon (thank goodness).

...And it's Friday- yay! Have a great weekend and enjoy the pictures and video! Mom

All Wrapped Up...

Hello, all! A late Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you! Yes, we are still alive...sorry for the long absence! We have simply been all wrapped up in life! In October we got all ready to move, closed on the house Nov 6 then postponed our move by a week so we could do some work around the new house before we moved in. We moved in, hosted Thanksgiving for Daniel's family a few days later and have been going ever since! Grandpa (my dad) came to visit then it was Christmas and Nana (my mom) was here to visit(and she even painted Carly's room too)!


Carly is now our big girl- 3 years old! We cannot believe she has grown up so much in just a few short years. She continues to learn and grow at an amazing rate. She's always saying things that make us laugh. She is, of course, a normal 3 year old who likes to test the boundaries but she is all-in-all a great kid! Carly is a great big sister. She kind of swaps between being a helpful, loving big sister and the tormenting older sister but normally she is very good with Kate. The other day I was on the phone as the girls were playing in the playroom. I saw that Kate had a runny nose and went into the living room to get a tissue. As I walked back into the playroom I realized that Carly was ahead of the game- she had already gotten a tissue, wiped Kate's nose, gave her a big kiss and a toy! Pretty sweet! She really likes going to Mother's Day Out ("school") on Thursdays. She likes her teachers, gets to play with her friends and learn all sorts of new stuff. We have a little playgroup we meet with once a week and several other friends we get together with during the week as well, which keeps us having fun. She loves to sing and dance and generally be goofy. For those of you 'in the know' about kid's tv, she really likes Super Why and The Fresh Beat Band. She enjoys riding her scooter around the house, drawing, playing games and cooking in her kitchen. She likes asking you what you want to eat and then saying "we don't have any of that, we only have cheeseburgers". A couple of days ago she said "check it out, Mom"! And yesterday a friend at church told us that Carly was telling her a story. She didn't fully understand the story but she got that Carly spilled something on herself and said, "...and I was like, I need to go to Wal Mart!" Ha ha.

About a week ago, our "baby Kate" turned 1!! We just had a birthday party for her with Daniel's family yesterday. Let me just say that Kate is my girl- she tore into that cake like she was an old pro! She has been sort of walking for at least a month now but is starting to venture out on her own a bit more without prompting from us. She is so very proud of herself when she makes it without falling down! She has been gradually adding words to her vocab since late October- mama, dada, baby, hi, hop, ball, up, more, bye bye, bath time (ok, she sort of says that one)...you get the idea. She babbles all the time so I'm sure there are more words I just haven't distinguised yet! She can sign 'more' and 'finished' while eating. She's very cheeky like her sister, likes to tease you then crawl away giggling. Kate's a cuddler, she enjoys all sorts of foods, though she is very into crackers and honeydew at the moment. Like her sister, she's not a huge fan of sleep- she's pretty much just taking one nap during the day and waking several times at night.

At Carly's 3 year dr appointment and Kate's 9 month, both girls were healthy. Carly wasn't a fan of having to get a shot but she's such a trooper, she just gasped then asked for a treat! Carly was in the 90% for height and 75% for weight and Kate was in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. Where did they get their height from?? =)

As for Daniel and I, we are doing well. Daniel is still enjoying his job and the new challenges that brings. He just worked on a big project and got 'Employee of the Week' (he'll be so happy I shared that with you. ha ha.) for doing such a great job. The guys he works with and their spouses just came over to watch the Super Bowl last week so that was a great time together.

I'm enjoying my time with the girls, hanging out with friends and spending time at home. Since it's the middle of winter, it's been pretty cold and the outside has not been so inviting. I'm looking forward to the time when we can just go hang out in the back yard without having to bundle up (and looking forward to the time when I can put Kate outside without having to worry about her eating grass and insects). I have been seeing the chiropractor to see if we can make my headaches any better. So far, it's not making a positive difference but I'll keep trying. Carly and Kate have charmed Ms Shiela and Ms Darcie at the chiropractor's office- they play with the girls while I'm in treatment.

Though I thought I moved to Texas for a mild climate, this winter has been particularly cold, windy and snowy! It has snowed about 4 times- we had a fair amount of snow the day before Christmas. It was accompanied by wind and ice and kept us from driving over to Dallas to celebrate Christmas with Daniel's family- we got together the day after Christmas instead. We just had a doozie of a snow storm (for Texas) when we got 12.5 inches (31.75cm) of snow on Thursday. Carly and Daniel had a great time playing in the snow. Carly just walked around eating handfuls of snow, they made snow angels and a snow lady. I say snow lady 'cause it kind of looked like she was wearing a skirt! Kate even got out in the snow for a couple of minutes. She just wanted to get down and romp around in it but we made her come inside instead (there's a picture to prove how uncool she thought that was).

We are starting to get more involved in our church which is very welcome. We really miss being involved and serving in a church body since we left Alice. We have slowly gotten to know people at our new church and are beginning to serve as we are able and find needs. Carly really has fun at Sunday school and Kate does well in the nursery. We have enjoyed being closer to family and getting to see them more often. We enjoyed Christmas with Daniel's family and my mom, who was down from Kansas City. We hope to make a trip up to KC in the next few months.

Well, I guess this blog is 'all wrapped up' as well. Enjoy the boat load of pics (176 to be exact- from Oct til now)! We love you! Over and out-- Mom

Great family, great friends...

Could it REALLY be October??!! We have been very busy since our last blog but we have had such a great time! The last weekend in August we headed over to Dallas for our niece Whitney's birthday party. We stayed there Friday night and went out to dinner with the family. The next morning we got to join in the surprise for Whitney's new trampoline. Carly was definitely a fan (but it will be a while before we get one) and enjoyed jumping around with Whitney several times that weekend. This year Whitney and her friend Cameron teamed up for a joint country- themed party at Whitney's gymnastics place. The kids jumped on the trampolines, swung on a rope, ran and jumped into a foam pit and even circled around the big round parachute. After that was eating time, which all the kids eagerly joined in for. Carly dug into her cupcake that looked like a horse and didn't stop until the clean up crew was literally waiting to take the tablecloth off the table. We were laughing so hard since all the other kids had gradually left the tables to go play but she was still sitting there 10 minutes later. She has a sweet tooth like me! Daniel went to our friend Matt's bachelor party and the girls and I went to church with Josh and summer that night before heading home Sunday morning.

Labor Day weekend we headed to Kansas City for a visit. Daniel had to head back Monday to get back to work but the girls and I stayed until Friday. We hung out, played with toys, went swimming, went to the park, the children's farmstead and went to a shopping area where we rode a miniature train and played in the fountain while it was raining! The farmstead was a great time- We said hello to the cows, fed the goats and the sheep, watched the hens, played in the Native Indian tepees and finishes up with a popsicle! We saw Grandpa, played in the bead curtain, looked at some of my old toys, talked, took pictures, went out to dinner and topped it off with ice cream too. We spent some time with Grammy and Grandaddy, walked around their place, saw the swans and talked with some friends. And we saw my friend Heidi and with two of her three kids around to play, Carly was a happy camper. It was a busy week but we had a great time.

The next weekend we enjoyed 'baby Jake's' 1st birthday party on Saturday. Sunday our friends Paula and Karina from Alice Springs were stopping through Dallas in transit between Alaska and London, so we got to spend the day with them. They were weary from flying all night but they did well with the chaos of our family, going to church, eating lunch out and heading back to the airport.

Monday morning the girls and I headed off to Austin to see more friends from Alice! Our fab friends June, Craig, Sawyer and Grayson were doing their yearly trip back to the USA (which they say they won't do again with 2 kids...c'mon!) and had some time in Austin. We stayed in the hotel with them from Monday through Thursday and, despite the constant rain, had a great time. Carly was soooooooooooooooo excited to see Sawyer, her best little buddy ever, and it was pretty cute when they saw each other. They just giggled and hugged and kissed and picked back up where they left off. The boys have changed even since we left in May and it was so good to catch up with June and Craig. We hung out at the hotel, with Craig's brother's family and went to the jumping place twice. We enjoyed the Austin Children's Museum- the kids could have played there for a couple more hours but we had to drag them off so we could eat. We went to Chuck E Cheese, the kids had so much fun. And the morning we left, we went and fed the ducks/ tried to avoid having all the turkey- ducks (I know there is probably no such thing but that's what they looked like!) attack us for bread. The girls did very well with the drive but I was very glad to get to our destination both ways. =)

I thought that after returning from Austin, which mostly concluded our crazy month of September, that things would be a bit more cruisy. I should NEVER think that things will slow down, 'cause they never will! On Saturday 26th, we got one of the automated emails from our realtor about a property that fit some of our search criteria. It was in our desired area with our desired features so we took a look on Tuesday then again Thursday and made an offer on Friday! It took until the following Tuesday to hear back for sure but we reached a deal and signed on to buy a house! We had our inspection last Friday and it looks like we are going ahead with buying our first house. We close on November 6th! So full steam ahead...

The girls are doing great, though recovering from colds. Carly started going to Mothers Day Out on Thursdays from 9-2. She just went for the third time and truly loves it. They play, do crafts, have a snack, either play outside or in the gym, learn about letters, etc, eat lunch and have a rest/nap time. She jumps up and down every time we tell her she's going to school and always wants to go NOW. She's cracking us up all the time. The phrases 'say yes' and 'two minutes' are very common around our house. As in 'Mommy, I want ice cream and then a treat, say yes'. There is no pause between the rest of the sentence and 'say yes'. Either that or she asks for something and while I'm thinking she says 'say yes'! Ha ha. And the other is saying she wants to play for 'two minutes' or watch tv 'two minutes' when we're asking her to do something else. She will grow up to be a professional negotiator someday.

Kate is growing like a weed and is just so annoyed that she can't move as fast at Carly. She is 'crusing' along furniture and when you try to hold her up, she wants to walk...when you try to help her walk, she starts pushing your hands away like she can totally do it herself, thank you very much. THAT reminds us of Carly! She has a great appetite and was 18 pounds at last weigh in. Her last two teeth have come in during the last week or so, making her pretty fussy, but I would be too! She started saying 'mama' in September. My mom heard her say it a couple of times when we were in KC the first week of September but she started saying it more regularly just after we came back from there. 'Mama' is usually said while getting fussy or crying! Neither child is particularly great at sleeping at the moment but they have been sick or teething for a few weeks now.

Daniel and I were laughing the other day about 2009, saying 'who's idea was it to have a baby, move overseas, then move again in a 9 month period?' But it will be very nice to finally be settled in our own place. And hopefully Carly can really know that's home, we're not moving again and she can relax a bit!

Thanks again for sticking with the 'book' I have written. I would love to do more frequent, shorter blogs but it never happens that way! Love to you all! Check out our pics!