Nile's 2 Month Checkup

Tuesday, February 17th

Nile had his two month checkup today. After dropping Em off at preschool we headed off to see Dr. B. As you can see from the pictures, Nile is having absolutely no problems putting on weight!!

My Life. In Pictures. ~The View From Your Front Door~

It is day 3 of Amber's photo challenge and today is a picture of the view from your front door. I enjoy the view from the front door, but I especially love our view from the back. Our house is surrounded by the Loess Hills on the east and south side. Out our front door you can see the neighbors evergreen nursery with rows and rows of mature evergreen trees. Those little house looking things behind all of the trees are little shanty type "huts". I am not really sure what they are or what they are used for, but they look kind of neat. Out our back door the view from our deck is the neighbors field, the Loess Hills and a small view of the Omaha skyline. You can not see it in the picture but to the left of where the picture cuts off you can see the First National and Woodman towers. I enjoy our peacefull view from all angles and look forward to spring when things turn a little more green and the farmers start planting their fields.

Front

Back

My Life. In Pictures. ~Something On Your Table~

Day 2 of Amber's photo challenge is "Something On Your Table". This something on my table is not anything decorative or delicious. I like to call this 'cafeteria style'. When I really get into cleaning I like to put my chairs up on top of my table so I can get a real good sweep and scrub underneath. It makes it much easier to get the chairs out of the way and makes it feel like you are really getting something accomplished!! Also, the kids can not push the chairs over to the counter and get in to the cupboards...it's like a two for one special!! So as I was cleaning yesterday I decided this would be a good shot of what is on my table...proof that I actually attempt to clean, despite the usual conditions of my home...

My Life. In Pictures. ~Something New~

This week I am participating in Amber's photo challenge. Today the topic is something new. What could be a better "new" thing in my life than my little man. I just love him to pieces and I really can't get enough of him. He is sleeping in his swing right now as I type this and I actually miss him...he is just a few feet from me, but I want to be holding him. He is getting so big so fast and I wish I could slow that down just a little, but unfortunately that is not how it works. So I just continue to soak up every little bit of him that I can. He will be four months old next week.

**Blast From the Past**

That is Clara under there (three months old) ...complements of Emily.

Only In Iowa...

Sunday, February 15th

Only in Iowa can you be playing outside with no coats on one day and be making snow angels the next. Yes that's right...after a week of picnics, playgrounds, and riding bikes we were blessed with a very measurable snow fall. I understand that it is still winter, but I was kind of enjoying our nice weather. Okay, I will just say it, "Give me back my sixty degree days, this snow stinks!" There was one good thing that came out of the snow. Emily finally got to play outside and make a snow angel. She really had wanted to make a snowman but it just wasn't the right kind of snow. However, she still had a great time. Daddy had to get out the fourwheeler to scoop out the driveway and she got to ride along. She thought that was great fun! When they finished pushing the snow Emily got to run around and make snow angels. After all of the snow fun was over we all headed back inside for some yummy homemade hot chocolate. Although it was a lot of fun, I am not so secretly hoping that this is the last snow of the winter.

More Outdoor Fun...Enjoying Every Bit Of Nice Weather While We Can!

Tuesday, February 10th

Picnic, Park and Pizza

Saturday, February 7th

We have really been enjoying this nice weather in February. During a cold winter, it is quite a treat when it is nice enough to have a picnic and play in the park. So, we headed to town to the Glenwood Lake Park with our picnic basket full and a blanket. The girls were so excited to get to have a "picpic". It was a little chilly (we still needed jackets) but it was nice to again get a little fresh air. After lunch we walked over to the play area and the girls got to slide and run around. It will be a lot of fun this year because Clara is old enough to play on the playground and go down the slides (and I didn't see her try to eat one rock this time!!) We played for quite a while and the kids had a really fun time. I am looking forward to this summer and lots of trips to the park! When Dain got home later that afternoon, we decided to take the kids to the Amazing Pizza Machine. Emily has been talking about going to Chucky Cheese nonstop for about a month, so we decided to try the pizza machine because we had never been there and there is a lot more to do there. We had coupons for a free buffet, which ended up being a good thing because the food was not that good and we didn't eat that much. Actually, I got up from the table still hungry but didn't care to go back and look for something else. I think if we go again I will stick to the salad bar. Dain took the girls over the game area while I stayed back to feed Nile...he was getting quite hungry and wasn't going to have any fun playing games until he ate! We then headed over and joined the fam. The girls were having a good time already. Emily got to ride the frog hopper (which she talked about for days after) and the "roller coaster" (once with Daddy and once with Mommy). Clara was not quite tall enough to ride the bigger rides (maybe next time). They have a little kids area that the girls had a lot of fun playing in. There was a carousel horse and a few other little kids games to play also. All in all the "Pizza Washing Machine" (as Emily kept calling it) was a success. We had a really fun day packed with kid activities!!

Nile at the park

Clara getting off of the slide

Emily sliding

Emily riding the frog hopper

Dain and Emily on the roller coaster

Clara riding in an 18 wheeler

Clara on the carousel

Emily on the carousel

Nile happy after a fun day!

**Blast From the Past**

I came up with a new idea for a weekly post that I am starting today. Every Friday at Sunrise, Sunset and Everything In Between will be **Blast From the Past**. I will be posting either a story or a picture or both from something in the past years that I don't ever want to forget. Everyone always says that you are supposed to write the funny things down, so I decided to blog about anything that we don't want to forget. So, here is my first Blast From the Past....

When Emily was younger (actually they still do this) Dain and Emily would do "Spirit, All right". This actually started with Dain making fun of me for being a cheerleader in high school (with two girls he is doomed to years of cheer competitions, dance recitals, and basketball half time shows!!) He would always do spirit fingers and say "Spirit, All right" while making a funny face. Then when Emily was old enough he would toss her in the air (early preparationsperations of her being the flyer during stunting) and she started saying spirit all right. It became the name that Emily would call it when she wanted Dain to toss her in the air. She would say "I want to do spirit allright again". Fast forward about a year. Every night we always say a prayer with the kids before they go to bed (Emily calls this "saying Father") This particular night I thought it was time to show her how to sign the cross. I started showing her how to touch her head, heart and then side to side in order. Then I added in the words that go with it and had her repeat after me so that she could begin to memorize it. This is how that went:

Me: "Father"
Emily: "Father"
Me: "Son"
Emily: "Son"
Me: "Holy"
Emily: "Holy"
Me: "Spirit"
Emily: "All right"

Never laughed so hard and I thought Dain and I were going to pee our pants!!

Stay tuned for next Fridays Blast From the Past...

Some Much Needed Outdoor Play

Friday, February 6th


The weather is starting to get much nicer. After we got home from running a few errands we played outside for a bit. It was SO nice to get out and get a little fresh air. The girls were riding their bikes and we even got out the little golf set. They were so cute hitting the ball around the yard and they were actually doing a really good job. After they would hit it, Karl would run and get the ball. He wasn't very good about bringing it back though. Then it was time for a little sidewalk chalk. That was pretty short lived and Clara started putting it in her mouth so it was time to put that back. Nile was being so good during our outdoor play time. We had a nice time and it was good to finally get out of the house!!

A Day Of Interesting Creations

Thursday, February 5th

Today Emily had preschool. After we picked her up we had to head over to the grocery store to pick up a few items. The girls spotted this box of stuff to make banana pops. We were getting bananas anyway so I thought it would be something fun for them to make all on their own.

Here they are holding up the box

We will get to these later, but first Emily made a little creation of her own. Emily was the first one to get up from naps. She found a tube of biscuits in the "strator" and thought that looked like a good after nap snack. Of course she wanted to open it and make them on her own. I got out the cookie sheet and turned on the oven for her and let her do the rest. She popped open the tube and began separating them and placing them on the sheet. While she had this completely under control on her own, I headed downstairs to change out the laundry. While I was gone a few short minutes, she decided to "enhance" her biscuits. When I got back upstairs I found that she had decided that her biscuits needed a little decorative sugar sprinkles (what biscuits would be complete without that!!) and of course some little carmel balls. She was so proud of herself that she had not only opened the biscuits and placed them on the sheet, but she had made them absolutely pretty and delicious!! I went right along with it and told her they looked really awesome and that we couldn't all wait to try them. So, in to the oven they went!! They came out looking pretty interesting because the carmel balls had kind of melted in to the biscuits and then hardened. She was so excited to try one, took one bite, and....that was about it. They were not really a hit...I can't imagine why?!?! However, she was able to do something all on her own and was proud of herself and that is what counts!! I am always encouraging this type of creativity, especially in the kitchen!!

Emily so proud of what she had done!!

A close up of the delicious creation!!

Back to the banana pops. Before dinner the girls helped me cut the bananas in half and stuff them with the popsicle sticks. They then had to go to the freezer for a couple of hours until they were frozen. After dinner and after only a few hundred times of "Can we make the popsicles yet?" we got the now frozen bananas out of the freezer to make the banana pops. The box came with a pouch that you had to run under hot water until the contents melted. Then you poured that in to a glass. Next you dip the frozen bananas in to the glass and the topping freezes to the banana. They had such a good time dipping their bananas, however, it was really messy. They were pretty good! We tried strawberry and I think that the chocolate probably would have been a little better. We may try this again some time but with a homemade version of just melted chocolate chips.

We had a pretty fun day and the girls enjoyed some time in the kitchen. And where was Nile during all of this...sleeping of course!!

Isn't He Cute!!

Wednesday, February 4th

Super Bowl 2009

Sunday, February 1st

It was Super Bowl Sunday and of course Amber and I were on our own...husbands were off to a wrestling meeting. Who plans a meeting on Super Bowl Sunday???? Anyway, we last minute decided to get together for the big game. I invited Amber to come on over and we would let the kids play and eat dinner and snacks. Neither one of us had groceries in our house to complete a meal, however, we each had things that would go together to make something. So, Amber brought the eggs, I provided the bread and we both had some syrup that added together made enough for french toast. Amber also had some leftover cupcakes that she had in the freezer and I had some sprinkles that the kids got to put on their frosting...man do kids LOVE sprinkles!! We really put everything together for this dinner party. The kids loved the french toast and of course the cupcakes for dessert!! They played and had such a great time running all over the house. Towards the end of the game Dain and Matt had finished their meeting and were home. They joined us for the end of the game. It ended up being a really fun night with friends!!

Emily, Clara and Brock

Let's get physical, physical....

Friday, January 30th

A Trip To the Lab For Clara

Thursday, January 29th

Clara has been having issues with her stools for, well, forever. We are starting some testing that is beginning with a blood test for Celiacs Disease. She had to go the lab to have her blood drawn today. They had to actually draw the blood from her arm instead of the finger prick that they do a lot for little ones. I had never experienced any of my kids having to have their blood drawn like an adult from the arm. When they put the tourniquet on her arm and started feeling in her 'reverse elbow' I realized how unnatural this all looked. I never think twice about it when they draw blood from my arm, but looking at this tiny little arm getting poked around just looked weird. Our kids are supposed to be completely healthy and you never want to think they would ever have anything wrong with them the would necessitate having their blood drawn...getting teeth is bad enough. It made me start to think of all of those families that go through this sort of thing all of the time with their very sick children. I pray for these families often because I can not imagine, nor do I want to. We were lucky to get Clara's results back within a few days and they came back negative. I hope this is the last time I ever have to take any of my kids to have their blood drawn like that.

Clara showing off her war wound. She was smiling just before this photo was taken...I think she was putting on a little bit of a show.

This is what happens when you are working on your blog downstairs, and your kids decide to go upstairs...

Wednesday, January 28th


Exhibit A: One torn open and half full bag of chocolate chips



Exhibit B: One messy face and one guilty girl holding the evidence. She has been caught!

Look at this girl's outfit. Her pj's do not even kind of match and she is famous for putting on random socks. This sock belongs to me. She will put on said socks and wear them all day long.

A Little Ice Cream Treat...Mid Winter

Tuesday, January 27th

Sometimes in the middle of winter, you need to take time to enjoy "summer activities". Every year I start to get a little sick of the cold and long for the warm summer weather and all of the fun things that come with it...like ice cream. We had to go in to town to run a few errands. The kids are always so good to be drug along on errand trips, so I decided to treat them by going through Mc.Donalds and getting ice cream cones. Both girls are big fans of ice cream (really, who isn't) and were excited to hear about our little mid winter treat!! We went to the drive through, grabbed our cones and then made a mess in the car. Luckily, it was totally worth it. They really enjoyed their treat and were greatful for it. I am looking forward to summer when we can eat our ice cream in the park!!

Clara's 18 Month Checkup

Tuesday, January 27th

Clara had her 18 month checkup with Dr. Bomgaars today. She was a little hesitant to want to go in the the exam room because she has figured out what sometimes happens at an appointment. First they weighed her in and she weighs a whole 21 lbs and 15 oz. Dr. Bomgaars was very pleased by her weight as she is finally back on the charts!! Dr. B looked her over and found that she had an ear infection. I had no idea because she had not one time complained or had a fever. He said that if she had not had a fever or any other syptoms he would let it run its course without antibiotics. Everything else looked good and Clara does not need to return until her two year checkup!! However, he did send us on to the GI doctor at Childrens Hopsital to have her evaluated for her bowel issues (I will spare the details). Our appointment is set for a couple of weeks and we will find out more there.

Check Out the Boots...

Anticipating the Lodge

Thursday, January 22nd

Nana (Dain's mom) gave our family a gift certificate for the Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas. This will be a fun getaway for us since it has been a while since we have had a family vacation. Emily has already been talking about going to the 'flodge' even though she has no idea what it really is. We are planning to head to Kansas City some time in March, which should be the perfect time to gear up for swimsuit season. We found new suits at Target for the girls and they were so excited. We had to try them on as soon as we got home. The girls both got three piece bikinis. Emily's came with board shorts and Clara's came with a skirt. They are so cute!! I found Nile some cool little man trunks...I can't wait to see his chubby little self in them!! We are really looking forward to enjoying some time away and visiting friends. Thanks Nana!! I will be posting later about our highly anticipated trip.

Just a few pics...

Monday, January 19th