The Noll Family Blog

Christmas 2011

2012-01-24T16:37:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas in Annapolis this year. It was a trip full of kids, noise, laughter and many family gatherings. Thanks for hosting us, Deterdings:)

A few shots from the gift opening frenzy:

After Christmas, we took Gus into Washington to the transportation part of the Smithsonian. He had a blast going on a "special date" with Mom & Dad. We rode the metro in, and that was by far the highlight of the day.

We stopped for a bit at the zoo after the Smithsonian, but Gus was so busy pretending to be a metro train that he missed most of it.

For the kids, one highlight of our visit was a tea party for the cousins and their special stuffed animal friends. My mom made outfits for everyone and oversaw the cookie and candy eating!

Like I said, we saw a lot of cousins on this trip! Here are a few of my favorites:

Kip & Avery...

and the 2 boys, Gus & Kaz. These were so cute, I had to post all of them!

Getting Ready

2012-01-23T15:13:00.002-05:00

We Nolls had a fun 2011 Advent.

We made gingerbread playdoh,

cookies,

"Are you sure they're not ready yet?"

and peppermint bark.

We cut down our tree at a new place, but with the same wonderful friends.

a little one for the kids' room:)

family photo, take 1

Aren't our children cute?

family photo, take 2!

We love you, Keans!

A cutie standing by the finished product

I made an advent calendar this year with the hopes of putting in a fun Christmas related activity for each day. I think we made it to around the 11th....hopefully, we'll do better next year!

My motto for this year was "Enjoy the beauty of the season." And I think we did pretty well.

Catch Up Of Our Fall (the condensed version)

2011-12-15T16:15:00.002-05:00

I must apologize for the sorry state of our family's blog these days.

If you check it regularly, you probably feel something like this...

However, there HAS been a lot going on at the Noll household. So, here are a few of Fall 2011's highlights.

We celebrated Gus' 4th (wow) birthday August 17th. One of Gus' strengths (in addition to his precious smile and verbal prowess) is the power of keen observation. As a result, he was pretty specific about his cake requirements: layered jello in red, white & blue, which he had at a church picnic over a month before. I'm proud to say, we pulled it off!

checking out his new gear clock from Granny & Grandpa Deterding

birthday ride on the Ducks

In September, Scott and I got away for a much anticipated 10th anniversary trip to Vermont, without kids! That's probably a whole post in itself, so I'll just leave you with this pic from Shelburne Farms.

Gus has been attending preschool one day a week this fall. He seems to have a blast, but each week when he gets home he cannot remember a single thing they did all morning :)

This was astronaut day. Kip insisted on having a helmet too, of course.

We celebrated Kip's 2nd birthday on October 28th. She was adorable all day, as usual!

opening gifts

being a goofball

post donut nap in the car

checking out her new rocker

hanging with her boys

Then came Halloween. Gus was Thomas the Train and Kip was.....well, we never could decide if she was a mouse or a monkey. I guess that's what you get when you buy secondhand Halloween costumes. They both thoroughly enjoyed the dressing up and the candy eating. Gus was so enamored of his costume that we actually took a trip to Target with it on! And Kip surprised us all by rationing out her candy the longest.

Boo.

For Thanksgiving, we took a roundabout trip to see just about everyone we could! First, we went to Kansas City to visit with Papa Gus and Grandma Judy. We spent a lot of time at the indoor pool and playing with Marshall, the dog.

Our water babies!

Then on to St. Louis to see Nonnie, DD, Nonnie Lewis and Jennie, Mat and Elizabeth. We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, lots of relaxing, a trip to the zoo and some after-Thanksgiving shopping.

We also had the chance to head up to Springfield, IL for a day to visit with my parents and grandmother. It was such a blessing to get to see just about everyone in our immediate family in one trip!

So, now we're ready for Christmas! Look for that post coming your way around, oh, I don't know.....June?

We love you all!

Missing You Grandpa

2011-11-03T15:22:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Fix-it

2011-08-15T16:19:00.001-04:00

Ah, the joys of learning to use tools!

Kip is a joy to be with these days! While she can be shy at first with new people, at home she is self-assured and self-sufficient. She insists on doing most things by herself and is bound and determined to do everything Gus and the grown ups are doing. My favorite anecdote from her recent adventures is the time (a few days after she saw me putting on chapstick) that I walked in and found her smearing a gluestick all over her lips:)

It is also so much fun to listen to her talk. She repeats everything, learns new words everyday and can usually communicate what she wants and needs. Here are a few of her new phrases and words.

up please: uppies
here they are: here y ar (said with cutest inflection!)
drink: gink
paci: pappy
cheese: cheeeeee!
cat: ca-ca
dog: dog dog
gus: guh!!!!!!! (although lately she has been adding the "s" occasionally)
all done: au dun
again: 'gin
open: opee
Go Cards!: Go cars! (with arms in the air)
I love you: I nuh new

A Day At The Farm

2011-07-21T13:51:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago, we made our annual trek out to Sequatchie Cove Farm for some blueberry picking. The picking was great, the kids had a great time and we made it back with over a gallon of blueberries. The cheese from the creamery, however, only lasted the first 10 minutes of the ride home.

Now

2011-07-20T12:54:00.001-04:00

I've been trying to live out this quote from Ann Voskamp:

"Now is not a forever grace, but an amazing grace.

Do whatever it takes to wake to wonder right here."

So here are some snap-shots of our "now."

2 possible career paths?

2011-07-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

Gus seems like he may be working on following in his great-grandpa Deterding's engineering footsteps. He has been begging to watch this video about gears multiple times everyday and his favorite activity is to take things completely apart to see what's inside. Of course, then we have to figure out how to put it all back together! I have a feeling that it won't be long before I'll be totally unable to answer his questions about how mechanical things work.

On the other hand, he can often be found making up silly songs, and occasionally dressing like this:

yo.yo.

Let's hope he picks the first option.

Art

2011-07-01T19:17:00.000-04:00

These are all pictures Scott took on our trip to Nashville. He's really talented, huh?

Big, fat mess

2011-06-29T21:51:00.000-04:00

Dinnertime at our house tonight was a disaster. And in my mind, it all began with this cheese:

At the store this week, I had the bright idea that I should save us some money by buying a block of cheese and then shredding it myself if I needed to. Well, tonight I needed to. And I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to pre-shredded cheese after this. Because while I was fussing about, trying to get the grater assembled, the cheese shredded and then unstuck from the inside of the grater (not to mention finishing up the other steps involved in the delicious casserole I was planning on serving), this was happening behind me:

"helping" to unload the dishwasher

spreading out the contents of what seemed like all his toy baskets

decorating the refrigerator

banging on the counter,

which then led to inconsolable screaming when dinner was STILL not ready.....

...and also a few other things that I didn't manage to capture on film, like a full cup of orange juice being knocked off the counter, across the floor and spraying the cabinets on the opposite wall!

It sounds funny, but at the time, it most definitely wasn't and, in all honesty, the screaming and crying was not coming solely from the kids. There are some nights when we sail through the dinner hour with no problems, but tonight was not one of them.

So, there you have it. We do not have it all together here. It's messy and sinful at our house sometimes. I wish I had been more prepared, more loving toward the kids as my frustration began to mount, more thankful when Scott swooped in to save me before things got really crazy. And as painful as all that is to admit, I suppose it's healthy just to be able to say it honestly.

I'm so incredibly grateful that I've been saved by grace, not works, and that Jesus is walking through this mess with me.

First fruits

2011-06-28T21:23:00.000-04:00

And there was much rejoicing.

Peace & Quiet

2011-06-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

Everyone except me took a nap this afternoon, which gave me some time to read through Ann Voskamp's blog archives. I've been spending a lot of time attempting to absorb her wisdom when it comes to mothering and building a Christ-centered life. I ran across this post about watching her oldest son grow up. It made me want to call an immediate halt to the craziness of life and just soak up every moment I have with my little man. I love him so much and don't want to miss a minute of these few years I have with him.

So I finished up nap time, holding him and praying for his future.

A perfect end to a restful Sunday afternoon.

Decade

2011-06-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

June 16. 10 years of marriage. Crazy beautiful.

Officially, we weren't planning anything big, but, unofficially, we were both working on secret surprise trips. Scott's plan worked out, and luckily, I suppose, mine did not.

We ended up having the most amazing weekend away in Nashville, thanks to this wonderful woman who watched our kids, cleaned our house, did our laundry, etc, etc! Thank you SO much, Carol Ann! What a tremendous gift!

We stayed at an aquaintance's condo, right downtown.

It was so refreshing to talk, catch up, have no deadlines or worries...

....or kids running about.

We went for early morning runs,

followed by breakfasts out...

aimless walking and sightseeing,

one morning at the farmers' market,

a dinner at a Taste of Nashville outdoor event,

reading and napping and sitting by the pool,

and, of course, picking out treats to take home to our two most precious gifts

(who apparently did a pretty good job being without us).

So thanks, Scott, for a truly memorable moment away.

I'm looking forward eagerly to our next decade together.

Their royal highnesses

2011-05-24T13:31:00.001-04:00

I have been inspired by another mom to pick a letter of the week and try to find ways to incorporate it into our daily activities. So this week, I picked K in honor of Kipster.

Today we read the story of Daniel and talked about kings.....and then made crowns. The kids had a blast! Gus actually participated in an art project (something that's pretty rare around here) and Kip decorated her own (and much of her hands and face in the process).

Before:

After:

Aren't they precious??

So far we've learned about Koala bears, colored some K letter sheets, listened to the Kookaburra song and eaten ketchup.

I'm having a blast planning all these things to do! Tomorrow we're going to look at pictures of Korea (where Scott was born) and buy some kiwi fruits.

"The Ants" by Gus

2011-05-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

The ants go marching two by two. Hoorah. Hoorah.
The ants go marching two by two. Hoorah. Hoorah.
The ants go marching two by two and then they go and buy some pizza
and then...they...all...feel better.

Lunchtime Fun

2011-05-16T12:41:00.000-04:00

This morning on the way home from errands, Gus asked if we could have lunch at Taco Bell. I immediately said no, but then thought I should at least try to make things fun for the poor, disappointed kid. So, today we had lunch at "pretend Taco Bell."

I took their orders in the car: cheesy rollups with a drink. Easy, peasy Japonesy. I got rewarded with a "Thank you, Taco Beller!" which is apparently what you call someone who works at Taco Bell. I was also told that I should work at Taco Bell (when Scott is home from work, of course) so I guess the food was pretty good!

Berries

2011-05-14T13:18:00.000-04:00

Our kids are rocking mulberry season this year!

They spend A LOT of time outside collecting the ripe ones that fall from our tree, and they are both literally purple from head to toe when they come inside.

Laundry has been interesting lately, to say the least.

P.S. I discovered why these berries have absolutely no commercial value: those little green stems you see in this picture do not come off. So you either have to eat them (which my kids do) or cut each and every one off (which I'm not willing to do).

Three blocks down

2011-05-05T13:37:00.003-04:00

The wind in our willows...

2011-04-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

....well, actually, our hackberry trees, if you want to get technical.

It started this morning with lots of clouds and a gentle rain. During breakfast, however, I noticed that the rain was becoming more horizontal and the wind was picking up. The lights started to flicker. I heard a soft thump, but didn't think much of it, until Scott walked out of the bathroom where he'd been shaving and calmly announced, "There's a tree on our house."

It looks pretty rough all around the neighborhood. This is across the street from us:

This afternoon, I went outside to take pictures and couldn't help noticing the constant noise: firetrucks, people out surveying the damage, chainsaws going already. And I'm pretty sure I saw a Red Cross Natural Disaster Response van at the rec center!

We're so thankful that we're not hurt, but I'm mourning the loss of our one large shade tree. Sure, hackberries aren't really pretty, it's growing through our fence and it makes these tiny berries that I have to constantly pull out of Kip's mouth. Plus our garden will be getting a lot more sun! But, it was shady and our windchimes made beautiful music hanging up there. I'm going to miss you, old girl!

Lone Star state

2011-04-21T20:22:00.002-04:00

Kip wore this today....

...and it reminded me that I am extremely late in posting the photos from our wonderful trip to Texas a few MONTHS ago. Yikes. So here you go!

First we headed to Houston to be with the Noll side of the family. We stayed with Scott's Aunt and Uncle and made trips over to see Mimi and Grandad at their new apartment.

Three of the 4 Guses

This was also when Kip finally decided to take her first steps! Crazy lady.

Then we were off to Dallas where we spent a few days with Aunt Dee Dee and Nonnie Lewis. Who knew we would have to go to Dallas to get our third snow of the winter!

It was a long drive. Between TN, two cities in TX and the trip back we logged over 2,000 miles in 6 days!! The kids did great though and we so enjoyed seeing Scott's family.

Thanks so much for hosting us, everyone. We had a really wonderful time!

Porsche

2011-04-20T22:14:00.002-04:00

Gus and I (Scott) ran some errands earlier today. At one point, he said, "That's a cute car." I saw the car to which he was referring and it was an old Porsche. Good man, Gus. Good man. Now, if I can just get him to use a more manly adjective than "cute." Hmmmm. I think he must be spending too much time with the girls.

Amy 31. 25

2011-03-24T21:29:00.002-04:00

I decided a while ago that I should write an update about myself, just like I do for the kids. It's actually been a really good exercise for me to stop and think about what I am interested in and working on these days. So here it goes!

Being a full-time stay at home mom, I have found I need a schedule for my days and weeks. Here's ours in brief: Each day I try to get up a little before the kids and do some yoga or just get ready for the day. Then the kids are up; we attempt to do breakfast, dressing and teeth brushing before settling down to watch "Dinosaur Train" on PBS at 9:30. I take those 30 minutes to finish getting myself ready, clean up the kitchen and occasionally work in some more easy exercises, which Kip loves to "help" with....Gus is much too busy learning about dinosaurs:) Then we play or run errands or clean the house (depending on the day) until lunch around 11:30 or 12. Then it's "rest" time. Usually about an hour for Gus, unless he falls asleep, and an hour and a half to two hours for Kip. This is when I hunker down with my daily cup of Scottish tea (with sugar and half-n-half, of course) and my Bible or devotional book (currently it's Shepherding A Child's Heart).

If no one's up yet after that, I have time for a project or dinner prep. Then we have more playing, or visiting Scott at his office, or other errands (seems like I do those a lot!) depending on the day. Then dinner, some more playing, and bedtime for the kids between 7-8. Then we sort out the mess in the house and collapse on the sofa. Seriously.

Having 2 kids under the age of 4 is exhausting, but I'm excited by the fact that it's much less tiring than last year! I feel like I have more energy and time to try some new things and get out of the house more. I really enjoy running with some other ladies 3 morning a week. Scott has been so sweet to watch the kids those mornings! Last weekend, the girls convinced me to go on a "long run." I honestly didn't know if I could do it, but I hung in there for 7 miles through the woods. It was such an empowering experience, that I think I might be hooked....but we'll see if I actually do it again:)

I've taken on the task this year of starting a second garden area in our backyard. Last weekend, I ripped out all the grass and weeds, and this week I've been working on widening it a bit. Our tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli sprouts are happily growing on the windowsill in Scott's office, and we have a few things popping up in the backyard garden, too. I find so much joy in gardening, and I'll admit, I even like to pull weeds!

I have decided to make this a year of organizing: culling, decluttering and clearing out. Part of me wonders if the Lord has encouraged me to do this because some major change is on our horizon, but I think really I'm just motivated to try and clear stuff out to make my own life easier. It's so darn annoying to have to sort through tons of stuff just to find what you're looking for, you know? So our house is slowly getting more orderly, which I'm really excited about, but, please, DO NOT go into our attic.....because that's as far as all the extra stuff has gotten :)

Other random things I like these days are reading good books, watching The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights (Scott and I finally succumbed to watching it after 11 seasons!), bringing in fresh flowers from our yard, couponing (my record is $60 worth of groceries for $20), baking and trying new recipes.

This stage of life is really good. I'm so thankful to be able to stay home every day with my kids and relax at night with my husband. I'm sure I'll be jumping back into the working world soon (somedays I wish it was right now), but for now I'm enjoying being here, and taking it one day at a time....even though there are some days, like today, when I realize much too late that I haven't brushed my teeth yet.....

Kip 1.25

2011-03-16T11:58:00.001-04:00

This is classic Kip. Always climbing, exploring, moving and having a great time doing it!

At her 15 month appointment, she weighed in at a slight 18 lbs (5%), but is 30 1/4 inches tall, which is 50% (and a whole inch taller than Gus was at 15 months!).

Kip's favorite things to do these days are playing outside (she cries when it's time to come in),

pushing her cart around so she's fast enough to chase Gus,

(sometimes she lets Gus help)

reading books (she grabs them and then plops herself down in our laps),

wearing hats,

being with her dad,

and walking!

She has finally decided to try it on her own, and after so much time practicing with us, she's already a pro.

Some of our favorite things about Kip are the way she giggles when Gus clowns around,

her husky little voice,

her hugs,

her fondness for animal noises,

the way she folds her hands, especially while sulking,

I think of it as a toddler version of crossing her arms

how she says "Amen" after we pray,

and how all her attempts to sing sound like, "O-bey".

She is a joy to have in our lives each day, and we are so thankful for her!

Gus 3.5

2011-03-07T15:35:00.002-05:00

Our happy, giggly, and talkative boy is 3 1/2 now and going through a serious growth spurt! He asks (usually very politely) for seconds, and even thirds, these days. His imagination is in full gear now, and I enjoy hearing the intricate details of whatever he is pretending to be or do. He is constantly running to find me and tell me something he has noticed or desperately needs me to be aware of.

Here he is showing off a new game we invented that involves a cup flying across the dining room table. The opposing team tries to catch it before it falls off the table....but either way, much laughing is involved!

Here, he is an Indian in his makeshift teepee, complete with kitchen and probably, if I know him, a garage:)

We got a surprise this winter when we let Gus' hair grow out a bit longer. It's curly all over the top! Guess we should have seen that coming:) We've also had fun watching Gus' confidence in his physical abilities grow through the gymnastics classes he has been taking. He spends much more time climbing onto and jumping off of things these days!

He is working on getting himself dressed, not sucking his thumb (a couple bandaids a day for each thumb are doing the trick right now!) and sharing his precious cars and trucks. Today at playgroup, he desperately wanted a turn with another boy's car, but his pleas were repeatedly rebuffed. Eventually, with some coaching, he shared his own car first and before I knew it the two boys were playing together like fast friends! Way to go, Gus!

His favorite activities these days include building train yards and parking lots, being tickled by his dad, running and spinning in circles, and helping out with Kip (you read that right!).

One last funny story (there are many, but this is freshest in my mind). Yesterday during church we recited the Lord's Prayer. Gus has been learning this in Sunday School, so he immediately chimed in (at full volume), "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be my name...." We decided to ask him to whisper the rest:)

Splish Splash

2011-02-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

Kip has been keeping herself very busy while I pack!

Ready To Go

2011-02-04T07:02:00.000-05:00

We're leaving soon on a road trip to Texas to visit some of Scott's aunts and uncles and grandparents. Gus has been really involved in helping me get ready: planning what to bring, shopping for snacks, packing up the suitcases (and playing in them!). He's incredibly excited and keeps asking if it's time to go yet. Finally, I guess he decided he'd had enough waiting. He packed up Kip (in the backseat) and "drove" to Texas himself:)

Fresh Air

2011-02-02T19:20:00.000-05:00

We've had a few days of warmer weather this past week, so we headed outside for some play time.

It was a bit windy, but the kids had a blast in the sandbox and running around in the yard.

We also went for a visit to the Chattanooga Zoo one afternoon. Even though it's definitely not world class, our tiny zoo has some great perks. We were THE ONLY PEOPLE there. The kids can get SO close to the animals. And I don't feel like it's a waste of time to go when we only have an hour or so before dinner because we can see everything!

Kip spent most of the time saying, "Meow!" or "Moo!": the two animals sounds she has definitely mastered.

"Hey, you, look at ME!"

On the way home, I captured this moment. Warms a Mama's heart!

Cut and Paste

2011-02-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

Today, Gus and I worked on using scissors and a glue stick. He had a blast and I was amazed that he could find vehicle pictures in my old parenting magazines:) The results are now gracing our refrigerator.

Haircut

2011-01-28T11:39:00.000-05:00

And so, we begin again...

2011-01-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

Scott does not make New Years resolutions, but I just can't seem to stop. There's something about a new year that makes me want to re-evaluate, get organized and get started on something new. Living in the south makes it even easier since I can go outside in January and see things starting to sprout up and begin again, too.

2010 ended, unfortunately, with much sickness at our house, but here are a few Christmas photos before I move on to 2011 for good!

Gus is fascinated with dressing up in clothes that are way too small. This was supposed to be Kip's Christmas outfit....

Christmas cookies!!

What a big helper!

Christmas morning

Carol Ann and Elizabeth Anne came to visit. Gus loved being read stories by his cousin and Kip couldn't get enough of being walked around!

And, last but not least, we finally got our white Christmas.

Now, on to my new project for 2011: A backyard patio/eating area that I can build myself on a super small budget. I've already started ripping out the weeds. That's free....

Little Dictator

2011-01-04T16:23:00.002-05:00

Remind you of anyone infamous? (I just couldn't resist!)

Seriously, though, Kip is VERY opinionated these days and not afraid to let you know it. Her favorite thing to do is shake her head NO in answer to every question you ask. We read somewhere the other day that 14 month olds will be hanging on you one minute and then want nothing to do with you the next. That pretty much fits our baby exactly these days. She goes from little open-mouthed kisses and leg squeezing hugs to flailing limbs and temper tandrums in seconds sometimes:) And she's proving to Gus that she can fight over toys just as much as he can. Just wait til she decides to walk on her own, buddy.

Mary Anne

2011-01-04T15:11:00.001-05:00

Gus is going through this funny phase where he pretends to be a different vehicle everyday and must dress accordingly. We have been reading a lot of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Gus was Mary Anne (the steam shovel) for about a week. He insisted on only wearing red, day and night. Now he's on to something else (a train, I believe) so I finally got to wash his red sweatpants:) 3 year olds are fun...and quirky!

Writing Letters

2010-12-28T20:14:00.001-05:00

Today we mastered A and started C. He is so excited and proud of himself. College scholarship offers are already pouring in:)

2010-12-24T10:04:00.001-05:00

One

2010-12-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Kip turned one year old on October 28th (which, incidentally, is also one of her grandfathers' birthday).

She is an affectionate and joyful little girl who never sits still!

She spends a lot of time trying to catch up with her brother, but hasn't tried walking on her own yet. She makes up for it with speed crawling and climbing up on anything and everything (including step ladders).

She is usually quiet, but has some strong opinions (especially when it comes to feeding herself) and prefers to be with someone over playing with toys. She dances, says ball, hey, up, bed, mama, more, dada, cat, and meow, and sleeps through the night (finally!)

We had a little party for her and she enjoyed her cake and gifts.

We love you so much, Kip! Thanks for brightening our days and loving on us so well.

Towed

2010-12-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, our car literally ground to a stop in front of our house after an errand run. The frame was resting ON the front wheel. Apparently, our directional arm disconnected, or something, and I'm so thankful that it happened when we were only traveling 2 miles an hour!

Anyway, bright and early the next morning, a tow truck showed up to take the car. Gus was enthralled. And if you look closely, you can see him riding away to the body shop in the truck.

Hello Fall, Part 2

2010-12-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

I suppose "Good-bye Fall" is more like it....

Our fall garden is in:

We enjoyed a wonderful, crisp morning playdate at the Pumpkin Patch playground with our friends the Reardons.

Lots of running,

climbing,

sliding,

and hanging around fun.

We also spent an afternoon picking out pumpkins, going for a hayride and playing in a giant corn kernal pile with our friends the Keans.

"Here comes the TRACTOR!!!"

Other favorite fall activities:

drinking "tea" on cooler mornings,

and exploring anything and everything with new cruising skills!

Happy Fall everybody:)

Hello Fall, Part 1

2010-10-23T14:03:00.000-04:00

We've been really making an effort this year to take advantage of the fall season. It seems like it just slips by most years. We've had a great month or more of weekend outings in the perfect weather. In fact, there are so many pictures I wanted to load that I ran out of "free storage" space on blogger and was instructed to purchase more, but I declined. So, these fall pictures will have to be split up into a couple posts.

Here's part 1: Apple Picking and Eating with friends

Ta-da!

2010-10-16T11:34:00.001-04:00

Several weeks ago, I made homemade spaghetti sauce using a friend's recipe. I thought it might be fun to document how long it took me to finish this one task with 2 kids involved. So here you go:

1. Blanch and peel tomatoes.

2. Chop all vegetables and saute.

3. Cook and then puree.

4. Congratulate self on job well done....then start to clean up the mess!

Total time: roughly 3 hours and 15 min.

Result: EXCELLENT sauce to put in the freezer (thanks for the recipe, Reardons!) and a feeling of accomplishment:)

Goodbye Summer!

2010-09-29T22:57:00.000-04:00

All finished.

2010-09-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report that after 18 days and some last minute help from my studly husband, I have finally finished pruning our hedge.

18 days!

A Celebration of Milk

2010-09-17T10:54:00.002-04:00

We are happy to report that Amy's long battle with dietary restrictions in nearly at an end. First with Gus and now with Kip, Amy cut out a mind-bending amount of food from her diet so that she could continue to nurse our kids in a way that helped their intestinal tracts to heal and develop normally in the absence of any allergens that were exacerbating the problem. Having been cleared of everthing but milk and peanuts, Amy started introducing milk back into her diet yesterday. We kicked off the trial by heading out for ice cream at Clumpies with some of our friends.

Join us in giving thanks for the reintroduction of dairy to Amy's diet! It seems like a little thing, but let me assure you that it is not. So you can sympathize, we'll give you a simple test: try cutting just dairy, wheat and soy from your diet for one day and see how you do. Extra credit: try to do that while eating one meal out at a restaurant.

If you think about it, you can also pray that Kip would pass this next allergen test phase with flying colors and that she would be one step closer to growing out of her allergies just like her big brother did when he was her age.

On tap for dinner tonight: Papa John's Pizza!

Growing Up

2010-09-16T10:04:00.000-04:00

Our little neighborhood library has a preschool storytime each week. Last week, Gus was given his very own flannel board and tons of shapes that the librarian must have spent hours cutting out!

This morning he made a car (of course), and then branched out to build a grocery store, stocked it with flannel food and then pretended to eat some (a hotdog with mustard). I love watching him use his imagination!!

Ah, middle school...

2010-09-14T11:39:00.001-04:00

Remember these?

Gus got one in a party favor bag awhile back and everytime I see it, I feel like I'm back in middle school:)

Speaking of which, I'm teaching the middle school girls Sunday School class this year. We get together at our house each week and eat breakfast and read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. A couple weeks ago, we made dinner for a family in our church that just had a little girl. It was so much fun to watch the girls' enthusiasm and ability to make anything fun!

3!

2010-09-14T09:25:00.008-04:00

In case you can't tell, this is Gus showing you how old he is. We had a swell party for his 3rd birthday last month at Partyville. It's basically this huge warehouse full of bouncy, blowup things, like houses, slides, etc. The kids had a blast and I didn't have to make food or clean the house:) That left Scott and me plenty of time to work on Gus' request for a firetruck cake! It was a joint effort....not bad, eh?

Thanks to all our neighbor friends for celebrating with us and for all the many car-themed gifts that Gus received!

And thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming down and freeing us up to spend some serious time on our cake building project:)

Games, food and cake: the perfect combo:)

Happy Birthday, Gus! We love you so much and are looking forward to watching you grow and change during this next year.

2010-09-07T08:56:00.001-04:00

2010-09-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

Flashback

2010-08-17T10:19:00.012-04:00

The kids and I (Amy) went up to Annapolis for a visit over the 4th of July. We had SO much fun. We got to enjoy hard crabs for Mom's birthday, a day at the zoo, kayaking, sleeping on the porch in sleeping bags and lots of family time, which we don't get much of down here! Gus and Kip had a blast hanging with their cousins, Grace & Leah. Mom and Dad were even brave enough to have a cousin sleepover while the adults went to see the fireworks! I got home in time to sneak a peak at the attempts to get the 3 older ones all settled in their sleeping bags down in the basement:)

So here are some pictures of the trip.

Kayaking with the 3 oldest:

Gus hunkered down for the ride.

Grace preferred to supervise.

Aunt Heather and cousin Leah.

Uncle Steve

Grandma K stayed home with Kip, who refused to sleep while we were out:)

Checking out Mom and Dad's amazing "new" backyard:

Dad started all these native plants from seed!

Picking blueberries.

Tea at Grandma K's

During the week, Gus and Grace took turns swapping favorite past-times.

Gus ended up in heels, and Grace helped turn the dollhouse into a parking garage.

We had dinner at Jim and Laura's one evening. We had a wonderful time exploring their property, mingling with the chickens and hearing about their recent trip to Italy.

Thanks, everyone, for such a wonderful trip! We love Maryland:)

2010-08-10T23:58:00.000-04:00

And she's off.....

2010-08-07T20:56:00.002-04:00

Kip started crawling today!

She has been SO close for a while now and finally decided that getting over to her Dad was the right incentive.

That's my daddy's girl:)

August 5

2010-08-06T09:16:00.002-04:00

i love you.

We're still here

2010-08-03T09:09:00.003-04:00

We lost our camera card reader for a while, but we're back in business. Life here is crazy, but everyone is ok and we're more than thankful for that.

9th Anniversary

2010-06-21T23:48:00.003-04:00

Thank goodness for bed guards!

2010-06-20T10:49:00.001-04:00

Thomas the Train

2010-06-13T13:56:00.008-04:00

So, in case you didn't already know, Gus really likes this line of toy trains called "Thomas the Train." So, Gus's "Oma" offered to send us boys to a traveling event called "Day Out With Thomas." They stopped here in town at a local train museum a few months back. Gus had been to the train museum with his "Papa Gus" before, so after the golf cart drove us from the parking lot to the gate (an early highlight) he hit the ground running.

He led me down between two lines of retired cars and engines and we ended up in front of a breakdown train (a train with a crane that is able to pick up derailed cars). Gus has a toy breakdown train so it was perfect for him to see a real one. We happened to arrive just before they started their demonstration. I couldn't believe the thing still worked. The driver (?) picked up a train chasis and moved up and down and from side to side. It was actually pretty amazing. Gus was in awe.

After the breakdown train, we made a quick jaunt past all of the vendor tents. They had one set up as a shop that was full of all things "Thomas." We moved very quickly through that area. Have you seen how much that stuff costs? We spent more time in the tent full of train tables and Thomas figurines.

After we stepped out, I noticed a line forming in front of a small stage so I figured we'd just get in line and see what happened. We were only a few people deep, but by the time Thomas arrived with eyes moving, horn tooting and steam billowing, the line stretched back to the edge of the parking lot. I missed the opportunity to snap a picture of Gus's face when he saw Thomas pulling up, but it was classic. Turns out the stage was for picture taking. I sent Gus up the stage by himself so I could capture a few shots, but I couldn't ever get him to look at me for longer than a second or two. This was the best I could do.

Our boarding soon followed and we enjoyed a 20 or so minute ride in a passenger coach with "Thomas" at the helm. We went over several bridges, passed old train cars, a parking lot with several semi-trucks in it and just rolled along through the woods. Towards the end of our trip we spent some time in between the cars where we could get a better view. I wasn't sure whether or not that was permissable, but one of the conductors came out and chatted with us for a while, answering our questions as we headed back to the station.

After we disembarked, we walked around to see what else the event had to offer (notice the toy Thomas in Gus's hand).

It was no surprise that even at a train museum, with Thomas in attendance, that Gus would take several opportunities to climb up in the various golf and utility carts that were parked around the site. Maybe when he is 16 he'll take a golf cart instead of a car.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the petting zoo. I know, they are kind of creepy, but I decided to relax a little bit and let him explore. Although they had chickens, a turkey, rabbits, a sheep (a very hot sheep, by the way), ducks and a pig, Gus's favorites turned out to be the kids (goat babies, right?). Gus laid on them just like he does with our cats. He was so attached to them and they didn't seem to mind him at all.

In the end, we left the petting zoo b/c Gus was crying. He said that one of the big goats bit him when he was feeding it a leaf from a nearby tree, but I think one of its horns grazed his head. Ouch!

After the golf cart took us back to the car, we finished off the long and hot afternoon at Dairy Queen with an ice cream cone and a bag of french fries. As far as father-son outings go, I give it a 9 out of 10. We had a great time. Thanks Oma!

Who loves you?

2010-06-09T18:16:00.003-04:00

I like to play a game with Gus called, "Who Loves You?" The point is to remind him that God loves him most and, secondly, that there are a lot of other people that love him, too. So, I'll pose the question and then he will list some of the people that love him. He always starts with "God."

Today:

"Who loves you?"

Gus - "God!"

"Who else loves you?"

Gus - "Pharoah!"

Apparently, we still have some work to do.

6 months old

2010-05-13T15:10:00.009-04:00

Kathryn Persis is 6 months old! She is such a joy to have in our lives. She loves to smile and be tickled and observe all the activity around her. She is a great cuddler when she chooses to sit still, but most of the time she is in motion. She is still tiny (12 lbs 5 oz & 25 inches at her check-up), but what she lacks in size she makes up for with strength and physical prowess. Her arms and legs are always moving, she loves rolling both ways to grab her toys and she wants so badly to situp that she does mini-situps whenever we lay her on her back. Her favorite place to be is in the Johnny Jumper and she can really get some air!!

Kip's favorite toys are anything fabric.... ...and this soft plastic book which she crumples and gnaws on with gusto.

Solid foods have been a bit of a challenge with this precious girl. Don't let that sweet face fool you. She has deadly accuracy with her left hook when a spoon wanders nearby.However, when the mood is right she eats like a horse. Her current favorite: avocados. Good thing they're high in fat:)We are also making great strides in the napping area, once I accidentally discovered that she is soothed by up and down motions. I was trying to sneak in some exercise one day while she was a little fussy and demanding to be held. I started doing lunges and realized a minute or so later that she was all snuggled in and almost asleep. I've been doing that routine ever since at nap time and bed time and it works like a charm. And my legs are getting some serious toning!

We love this girl so much!! And except for when I'm woken up in the middle of the night, I don't want her to grow up:)

Chase!

2010-05-09T09:01:00.003-04:00

Gus's favorite game these days is chase. It is one of the first things he wants to do in the morning and definitely the first thing he wants to do when I get home from work each afternoon. Typically, he will let me chase him until I can't go any longer. Between the two of us, we still haven't reached his threshold. This morning, I decided to make an effort to chase him until HE wanted to stop.

Our normal route is a loop, running from the kitchen, to the back entry room, into the jack/jill bathroom, through our bedroom, into the dining room and completing the loop back in the kitchen. I measured it just for fun. The loop is approximately 70 feet. Thankfully, Gus prefers that I stand on the back of his tricycle and push myself while he runs ahead of me.

The end result: 62 laps. Of course, things start to blur together when you're running the same course that many times, but I feel pretty comfortable with that number.

He ran for the first 46 or 47 laps and then finally started walking after that. So, I believe that means that he ran more than half a mile! I tried to surreptitiously drop off the tricycle at about lap 53 (my quads were burning), but he caught me and asked me to get back on. In the late 50s, I asked if he was ready to stop b/c he was walking so slowly and he replied, "We're not done yet." In the end, he was distracted by a siren outside. After the emergency siren faded away, he asked to chase again. I wasn't surprised, but I just couldn't do it.

He talked on every lap. We were various Thomas the Train characters along the way. At one point, we were each Zoom, Zoom Bully (a character from one of his books; don't buy it if you can avoid it!). We each got several "tickets" along the way for going too fast. Somewhere towards the conclusion, I ended up with a police SWAT hat on.

He is an amazing little fella. I only wish we had the patience and energy to play with him the way he wants and deserves. We love you, Gus Man.

Yikes.

2010-05-01T14:59:00.002-04:00

I think I may have gotten a little behind on the ironing.

Sunday

2010-04-26T15:12:00.007-04:00

Lately life has been extremely busy for us. I'm usually trying to do so many things at the same time, that I find myself aimlessly wandering around the house, unable to decide what to do first. So I've really started looking forward to our Sunday afternoons. Life is purposely slower and we are all together. Here's what this past Sunday looked like:

Finger painting Wouldn't be complete without a vehicle involved in some way!

Kip watched the festivities from the comfort of her Johnny Jumper

(her current favorite hangout).

Then a sightseeing trip to check out the military vehicles at the armory. Unfortunately, the gates were locked, so we had to be content with peering through the (quite formidable!) fence.

Then some wide open spaces at the cemetary.

The weather was beautiful, and the day was made even better when we rolled up at the house and dinner was already made for us, thanks to our meal coop friends. Yahoo for no dishes and a laidback evening.

"Dunn, Dunn...Dunnnnnn"

2010-04-24T19:28:00.002-04:00

Dear Faithful Blog Readers,

We need your advice. We think we're just about ready to take the potty training plunge with this sweet boy.

We've informally given it a shot a few times (with no lasting success or enthusiam on anyone's part!), but we'd like to get all the helpful advice and tips we can before we get seriously started. So, please, wow us with your bathroom knowledge:)

Baptism

2010-04-09T09:18:00.009-04:00

Psalm 103:17 "But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness to their children's children."

We celebrated Kip's baptism a few weeks ago on March 14th. She did a wonderful job and looked beautiful in her baptism gown from Grandpa and Granny Deterding.

We enjoyed our time with all the family members from both sides who were able to come down. Thanks to everyone for making the trip!

Grandma Judy & Papa GusOma & OpaNonnie

Grandma K

4 generations

I had to include this picture! They both look so happy:) It was so sweet to have my grandmother (and Gus & Kip's great-grandmother!) with us. She was a huge help-ironing table clothes and Kip's gown. It was wonderful to see her again.

We love you so much, Kip.
"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

Thank you

2010-04-04T09:42:00.001-04:00

Benefits of 2

2010-02-23T11:27:00.003-05:00

They can entertain each other:)

Line 'Em Up

2010-02-18T11:29:00.005-05:00

Gus is fascinated with lining up things. As I go around the house, I often stumble over (literally!) random objects, all lined up and, usually, all facing in the same direction:)

Choo Choo Lunch

2010-02-15T12:16:00.003-05:00

Thanks, Oma!!

WOW.

2010-02-13T14:20:00.003-05:00

"Father, I'm so delighted that You are both loving and sovereign, and that You cause all things to work together for good to those who love You, to those who are called according to Your purpose. So I thank You for....each problem or hindrance, for each thing that triggers in me anxiety or anger or pain. And I thank You in advance for each disappointment, each demanding duty, each pressure, each interruption that may arise in the coming hours and days.

In spite of what I think or feel when I get my eyes off You, I choose not to resist my trials as intruders, but to welcome them as friends....

I rejoice that You plan to enrich and beautify me through each problem, each conflict, each struggle...that through them You expose my weaknesses and needs, my hidden sins, my self-centeredness...Thank You that You use trials to humble me and perfect my faith and produce in me the quality of endurance...that they prepare the soil of my heart for the fresh new growth in godliness that You and I both long to see in me....

I'm grateful that You look beyond my superficial desire for a troublefree life; instead, You fulfil my deep-down desire to glorify You, enjoy Your warm fellowship, and become more like Your Son."

~31 Days of Praise, Day 18, Ruth Myers

Testing, testing...1, 2, 3

2010-02-04T20:08:00.003-05:00

Well, I've finally admitted defeat in the quest to determine what Kip is allergic to/can't digest. I've cut out all the major (and some minor) allergens for over 8 weeks and it's not making any difference. Her symptoms come and go randomly, just like Gus' did. It's been mentally and emotionally exhausting, not to mention expensive. So I've decided to go on a rotation diet instead. The idea is to rotate your diet so that you only eat certain things every 4 days. I've decided to try and spread it out even more at first (every 8 days) so that if she is allergic to something, she won't be exposed to it as often.

This is taking a lot of planning ahead of time, but it has been SO wonderful to be able to eat "forbidden" foods again, sparingly:) And so far (this is day 4), I haven't noticed any change for the worse in Kip's symptoms.

We'll keep plugging away and trusting in the Great Physician.

"I'm melting....melting!!!"

2010-02-04T14:50:00.003-05:00

Every day Gus walks by our snowman and says, "Frosty is still here!" Well, not for long, buddy.

Snow Day

2010-02-02T14:08:00.005-05:00

3 months

2010-01-28T20:03:00.011-05:00

It's hard to believe that these last three months could have gone by so fast! Kip is growing so well (up to 10 lbs!) and is a joy to have in our lives. Here are some favorite pictures. WARNING: There's A LOT here, but she's just so darn cute!!

Kip's wonderful personality is really starting to blossom now. She is so sweet and happy, unless something is really bothering her and then she is LOUD.

She makes the most adorable, soft cooing noises. Mostly just vowels now. It sounds a lot like "Hi, hi, hi" sometimes.

She enjoys lying under her play gym, looking up at all the animals, etc. Her favorite thing to "talk to" and watch right now is a little black and white soccer ball. Our future athlete?

She is starting the hand fascination phase and spends a lot of time sucking on her fingers. Unlike Gus, she really likes her pacifier and her swaddler. She has started taking longer naps and sleeping more at night (5-7 hours) some nights.

It's so much fun to see the way she recognizes all 3 of us. We love you SO much, Kipster!

Why it pays to live in the South

2010-01-28T20:02:00.012-05:00

While playing outside yesterday with Gus & Kip, I saw this....

this...

and this!

You'd think after living down here for roughly 10 years now that I'd be used to the early spring, but it catches me by surprise EVERY year!

Here's something ironic though....as I post this, it's SNOWING. A lot. But I don't mind. I like snow too! Just so long as it's not cold and rainy. I'll leave those type of days for Scott. They're his favorite:)

Christmas Day

2010-01-28T20:02:00.009-05:00

This year the Deterding side of our family came to visit for Christmas: Oma & Opa, Uncle Steve & Aunt Heather, and Cousins Grace & Leah. It was a blast!!

Steve & Leah

Grace

The cousins had so much fun! Grace & Gus spent most of the time running around, with little Leah bringing up the rear. It was so much fun to hear them talking and laughing together while they played.

All the cousins decked out for the Christmas Eve service.

The girls in their matching Christmas PJs (thanks again, Heather!!)

Christmas Day Random Pics

Gus' big prize this year was his train table (Thanks Oma & Opa!)

Thanks again for making the trip down, Deterdings! We enjoy our holidays with you:)

Christmas Preps

2010-01-20T20:21:00.008-05:00

It was fun having Gus involved in getting ready for Christmas this year. The two activities that I remembered to take pictures of were cookie making and stringing pasta for a Christmas tree garland.

Making sugar cookies.

I love this progression.....

1.)

2.)

3.) Garland. He was pretty excited about the wagon wheel pasta that I found:)

The other day, we were talking about Christmas being over, and Gus' comment (which we hear A LOT of these days) was, "Are you sad about that?" (Translation: "I'm sad about that.") I reminded him that next year he will be 3 when Christmas comes and he seems to think that's pretty cool.

Christmas Tree

2010-01-19T20:29:00.008-05:00

We spent this past weekend taking down all our Christmas decorations, so I decided it was high time I uploaded some pictures of our Christmas exploits. I'm not promising anything, but my goal is to have all my Christmas related blogs up by at least Easter:)

We cut our tree down at our favorite Christmas tree farm with our neighbors again this year. It has become a fun tradition for us. This time there were 2 more kids with us!Gus was fascinated with the "baby" trees, as he called them. He stopped to talk to a lot of them along the way.The boys with our conquest.The girls:)We really like this particular type of tree. It's called a Carolina Sapphire.I'm not sure what he's doing here....directing, conducting, doing magic??The men hauling our trees back up to the car.Yes, that was car, singular. We got some interesting comments from people who saw our car sporting TWO trees. I have no pictures of the tree once it was decorated, but it was lovely....even if it was just propped up in the corner of our living room. Time for a heavy duty Christmas tree stand, me thinks:)

Happy Birthday, Amy!

2009-12-31T12:03:00.005-05:00

Today is Amy's 30th birthday. I stayed home today to try and make her day a little more relaxing. As a result, I haven't taken this baby carrier off for the past 3 hours. I just finished giving Kip a bottle so that Amy could go off to her surprise massage and get some much needed time alone. Let's just say that neither Kip nor I are used to the bottle. For the first 15 minutes, more of it came up than went down. In the middle of her feeding, I had to stop to give our sick and whining oldest some medicine b/c he was losing it. After her feeding, Kip went poop and more of it went up than down into the diaper itself. Thus, the need for a completely new outfit. In the past hour, I have disciplined Gus twice. He's due for lunch, but I'm stalling as long as possible, hoping that Amy will get back in time to help. Kip is back in the carrier and fighting her nap. Hold on...need to go fix the train tracks again so Gus can settle back down... Back now.

All that to say, I am very thankful for Amy and the hectic job she manages here at home. She's a great mother and still finds the time to be a fantastic wife and friend. I love you, Frau. Happy Birthday! (I think I heard the car pull up. Sweet. She's home!)

Funny Man Encore

2009-12-21T09:42:00.002-05:00

Today, while trying to get the house cleaned, I let Gus play with a container of Q-tips. I told him he could take them all out, as long as he cleaned them all up when he was finished.

I came in a few minutes later to find him cramming all the Q-tips back in the plastic cup. I asked him if he was having fun.

He said, "Yes, I'm just cleaning up all these Booger-tips."

(That's what we tell him Q-tips are for: Cleaning out your ear boogers.)

Funny Man

2009-12-20T19:19:00.003-05:00

Here's a conversation that just transpired:

Amy to Scott: "I wonder how they did this." (Referring to a personalized note pad that we just received.)

Scott: "I'm sure that any printer could do that."

Gus, from another part of the room while playing: "Printer. I want to see a printer."

Amy, under her breath: "Gus Man, you're such a little eavesdropper."

Gus, from the other side of the room: "Eavesdropper. Eavesdropper."

Argh....Sigh....

2009-12-11T13:10:00.002-05:00

Life can be so frustrating and yet joyful at the same time.

On Sunday, Kip started having the same food allergy symptoms that we suffered through with Gus for 7+ months when he was an infant. It has been shocking to me how similar my two children have been so far! She even started the symptoms at exactly the same age as Gus (almost to the day!).

I was, at first, devastated. Just remembering how stressful and sad it was the first time made me want to give up this time. I thought that with it being our second time around that I would handle it better, but it's still hard.

It's hard to think that her body is suffering and her immune system is working so hard to defend her against something that it doesn't need to worry about (that's what this type of allergy essentially is: a confused immune system). It is hard for me to contemplate many more months of elimination diets and doctor visits. With Gus, we were never able to figure out what it was in my diet he was reacting to, so I modified and modified, with little success. But, he is completely fine now which is a comfort to know, and he by no means had as severe a case as he could have. There are a lot of things for us to be thankful for. Kip has started smiling and hanging out with us more. Her whole face lights up when she smiles, and it's been so much fun to watch her interact with Gus a little bit.

For now I'd really like to try and continue breastfeeding so I'm not eating dairy, soy, eggs, nuts and fish for 3 weeks. We'll see if that does anything to ease the symptoms. After that, I don't know what we'll do. The formula they suggested switching Gus to supposedly can run up to $100 a week, which does not sound good to me!

I'm praying for a good attitude, complete healing for Kip or at least for us to discover what allergy she has so that I can avoid it. I am learning to process my ever fluctuating emotions through prayer and, as always, these "light and momentary troubles" are bringing me closer to my Savior!

Life goes on...I'm off to try replacing the eggs in some of my Christmas cookies with flax seed meal. We'll see how THAT goes:)

1 month old

2009-12-01T13:34:00.007-05:00

It's amazing how fast they grow!! From this...

...to this, in just 1 month.

Kip is doing great. At her 1 month appointment, she weighed 8 lbs 3 oz (25%) and was 21 inches long (50%). Although we've had a few rough nights, overall she's a much better sleeper than Gus was. She's pretty easy-going and loves to cuddle:) She's starting to get interested in stuff around her, like her mobile. She also really enjoys laying on the floor next to Gus!

Here are some of my favorite photos from her first month.

We love you, Kip!

Siblings

2009-11-23T18:32:00.001-05:00

Grandmas

2009-11-15T19:54:00.004-05:00

We've been blessed to have 2 grandmothers who were able to come and visit us since Kip's birth. It has been wonderful to have extra hands to help mainly with Gus. He has been showered with new clothes, toys, shoes, etc. and has been on many fun outings to see the Choo Choo, the park and the carousel. Thanks so much for coming, Oma and Nonnie!!

Fall

2009-11-08T09:06:00.004-05:00

On Friday, Gus and I discovered the huge pile of leaves that Scott raked the other day. What fun to introduce him to such a great childhood activity! I even got to climb in myself!

Pretty in Pink!

2009-11-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

We're Home

2009-11-01T21:24:00.002-05:00

Yoga Master

2009-10-30T19:35:00.003-04:00

Within minutes of Kathryn's birth, she struck the Lotus position in order to relax and unwind post-delivery. She's very smart - as we expected - but all the nurses were in awe.

Siblings

2009-10-29T15:32:00.007-04:00

Gus came to the hospital yesterday afternoon for his first visit with Baby Kip. It was fascinating to watch him take it all in. He actually sat and held her for several minutes. It's rare for him to sit still for that long unless we're reading. He even made cooing noises (like he does with his stuffed animals) and was extremely gentle with her. He's going to be a great big brother!!

Checking to make sure she has all her body parts....
Ears, check.Nose, check.Mouth....um, let's see...

Holding hands:)So, for those of you who care, here's our story:

On Tuesday, I had contractions most of the day, starting around 7 am. They were easy and about 10 minutes apart until around 3 pm when they started getting more intense . I called Scott just to let him know that things were progressing. We had a normal evening... dinner.... bedtime for Gus, etc. I laid on the couch for a while to see if things would continue or slow down. Around 9, the contractions started getting closer together so we packed Gus up and took him to our neighbor's (Thanks, Reardons!). It all felt a little surreal.

Having done this once before it wasn't as intense as I remembered. I helped pack our bags, cleaned and straightened up the house and timed contractions, all at the same time. We finally decided to head to Women's East around 11, and I seriously wasn't sure if we'd get to stay or not, but once we got here, they found out I was already 7 cm dilated, so they stuck us in a room as fast as possible and got everything started. I was Group B strep positive again, like with Gus, so they had to do antibiotics. I decided this time to get an epidural, but they couldn't start that until the antibiotics were done....and let me tell you, it seemed like they were never going to be done!! So, I labored for about 1 1/2 hours before the epidural (around 1:30) and then was ready to push at 2. It was definitely a completely different experience from last time when I went all natural. I suppose there are pros and cons to both and I'm really glad I've done it both ways!

Anyway, Kip was born at 2:26 am (on her grandfather Papa Gus' birthday!) with the cord wrapped around her neck. They had to cut it before she could be completely delivered. She was very quiet at first and they had to work on getting her oxygen levels up while the midwife stitched me up. After that there were a few hours of nurses checking in and her first bath (which she HATED!). We caught a couple hours sleep here and there. My parents got here yesterday afternoon, and our neighbors brought Gus by. He has definitely been enjoying his time with Oma and Opa:)

Last night, Kip's routine bloodwork showed an elevated level of a protein that could mean a possible infection as a result of my Group B Strep. Because my labor went so quickly, I didn't get all the antibiotics that I really needed, so there is a chance I passed it on to Kip. So they came and took her away in the middle of the night to the special care nursery to start her on antibiotics. It is pretty crazy to have the identical thing happen to both of our kids! Gus' case was a little worse: he did develop a fever and some fast breathing episodes. So far Kip has had no infection symptoms, but is being treated for a mild case of jaundice. She has a IV in her head (which looks so much worse that it actually is) and has to sit under the "grow lights" as I call them with a little mask on. But overall, this experience has been nothing compared to the one with Gus because we know everything to expect. She is even in the exact same bed that he was in at the nursery!!

She is getting more alert and fiesty each time we go to see her. I'm actually feeling a little sorry for her nurse:) She is very vocal about her dislikes (being undressed, sitting under the lights, etc). I am guiltily enjoying getting to really rest and nap, which is one blessing out of all of this!

So, we're very, very thankful to the Lord to have our little girl here. She is beautiful. We love her so much already and will be glad when we can take her home with us to start this new phase of life with 2 kids! Please join us in praying that she'd be released soon.

Good Morning!

2009-10-28T04:00:00.005-04:00

While all of you were sleeping, we were hard at work! Weighing in at 6 lbs. 5 oz, towering 19 and 1/4 inches and born at 2:26 a.m., introducing Kathryn Persis (Kip) Noll! The girls are doing just fine. Kip looks like her brother, don't you think?

Waiting....

2009-10-27T09:03:00.004-04:00

Well, our daughter is now officially running late....which is not really so surprising considering I'm her mother:) While we are waiting, we've been keeping busy.

Scott surprised me by signing me up for a floral decorating class at a florist here in St. Elmo. It was really fun and I'm proud of my masterpiece!

It has turned cold here and Gus has enjoyed his walks outside in his new hat and gloves. (Note the white paint on his face, a reminder of our house project, which is now completed!! More on that later.)

It's also peak fall color down here now, so the other day we took a hike at the Nature Center. It's been fun to try and spend some quality one-on-one time with him before he has to share his Mama!

One quick funny story:

We put down a new rug in Gus' room yesterday and it was still smelling a bit "new" last night, so we left his door open to cut down on his VOC exposure. Usually he sleeps with his door closed and hasn't seemed to figure out how to let himself out in the morning, so he's usually still in bed when we come in to get him. Well, last night at 3:00, I heard our door handle jiggling and there he was, out of bed with a couple toys in hand. I took him back to bed and went to look in the den/playroom. I don't know how long he had been up, but he had definitely been playing!! His cars were out and so were some of his "art" supplies. I'm not quite sure how he managed to do all that in the pitch black dark, but I found it hilarious.....until he was still awake in his room an hour later! Needless to say, he is now down for an early nap:)

House of Dust

2009-10-16T11:56:00.008-04:00

We haven't posted in a while. Our house has been rearranged due to a little remodeling project that has turned into a medium-sized remodeling project, so the computer hasn't been as easy to use. Everything we had in our den is now scattered throughout the rest of the house, Scott is now dressing up in the attic, there is a fine layer of dust in most every room and the house smells of paint, new wood and drywall. Oh well. It's something we've been wanting to do since we moved in five years ago. We feel like we've been patient until now and with Kip on the way (nothing stirring yet) we decided to go for it. Once the project is finished (please let it be before we bring a newborn home from the hospital!) our bedroom closet will be twice as big, Gus' bathroom will have a linen closet, and our den will have new walls and windows, a refinished ceiling, and new carpet. Hopefully, it will someday be able to serve as a bedroom for one of the kids. For now, we are learning to live in moderate chaos and becoming used to living on "contractor time," which means things don't always go the way we expect or happen quite as fast. Thankfully our guys are better than most, though! Hopefully, we'll have some before and after pictures to post soon! Hmmm...now where did we put that memory card adapter?

Picnic

2009-10-02T16:04:00.006-04:00

We had a picnic dinner at Cloudland Canyon last Sunday. It was gorgeous! This beautiful fall weather has been such a relief after weeks of rain.

Admiring the scenery.

Pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres.

Gus spent much of his time picking up some of the largest acorns I've ever seen.

Dinner is served.

Sunset.

Possibly our last group photo as a family of 3!

"Tweet"

2009-09-28T20:00:00.005-04:00

Gus decided to usurp one of the cats' toys for his own last week. For whatever reason, he chose to name this little mouse "Tweet" and they have been inseparable ever since. This is officially the first time that he has named one of his toys by himself. It is fun to see his little imagination growing. We're glad that Tweet is part of the family. For one thing, Tweet is easy to bring along b/c he is so small. Another bonus: should Gus lose Tweet, we'll just go to PetsMart and pick up another 3-pack.

Trucks

2009-09-20T16:39:00.008-04:00

This weekend, it's been doing nothing but, you guessed it, raining.....so here's a post about last weekend. We went on Saturday morning to an event called "Touch A Truck" that our neighbor told us about (Thanks, Cindy!!). It's basically a huge collection of trucks, just like the ones we've been reading about in Gus' many, many truck books. So last Saturday, he got to see them all for real and play with some wheel-related toys. It was a HUGE hit with our little trucker. I've labeled the various trucks, in case you're not as up on your truck names as we are:)

Pushing a wagon in his hard hat.

Playing on the car mat.

Concrete mixer (a highlight!)

Driving the concrete mixer. Those things are huge!

Tiny red car?

Up close, trucks have REALLY big wheels!

A satisfied customer:)

Cherry picker.

Golf cart.

Waiting for the HYBRID bus. Go CARTA!

Awed by the wheels again.

Street sweeper.

Riding lawnmower.

Tractor.

Mama's car....

2009-09-18T14:28:00.002-04:00

It's been raining here for what feels like weeks....so, I've been inventing things to do with Gus to get him out of the house. Yesterday morning, we went to the mall (of all places!) and just walked around for a while. And then later, we went to the aquarium for an hour with Scott after work. Anyway, we've been in the car a lot.

And sometimes when it's really wet here, my car gets wet inside and starts to get a really musty, nasty smell to it. I was commenting about it to Gus yesterday as we were driving. He thought about it for a while and then said, "Mama's car needs a clean diaper."

That's one for the quote book:)