The House

Well, we are living in our new house now.  We aren't even close to being unpacked and I think my 'to-do' list is three miles long, but we are all happy.  Pictures have been requested so I will post some from before we moved in.  Everything is still pretty much the same...there are just a million boxes everywhere now.  I have paint all picked out and ordered and will start on that sometime soon.  As rooms get completed I'll be sure to post before and after photos.

 We actually have big plans to park our cars in the garage.  I love my husband, but if there is only room for one car it will be mine. 

The lovely half bath.  I was very excited about having more than one bathroom, but now that I have to clean them all I'm not so sure about this.

 Yay for a kitchen with more than three cabinets and two feet of counter space.  We've even had fun hooking up all of the appliances.

 Family room

 This will be primed and painted soon.  This color is a little too loud for me.  My kids can get pretty hyper all on their own...they don't need any outside stimulation.

 It is a walk-out basement with another bedroom.  I love the walk-out.  It doesn't feel like a basement at all.

As much as I want to paint the basement first this will have to be my first room to paint.  I promised John he would not have to sleep in a pink room for very long.  Every morning he asks if today will be the day when we paint his room.

So there it is.  I've got a lot of work to do and my goal is to have it all done mid-July so we can have an open house.  I see many late nights in my future.

The Museum of Science and Industry

While my grandparents, Aunt Diane and her kids, Jimmy and Ericka were visiting last month we went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  I remember going to this museum several years ago with my church youth group.  I also remember how my Dad hated driving in Chicago.  Hated.  With a passion.  It was even worse that we were in a caravan with two 15 passenger vans and a minivan.  My dad doesn't show anger or frustration very often so this was rather comical.  I'm sure he didn't think so.

But on to our day at the museum.  The boys really enjoyed their time but it was a little old for them.  I'm anxious to go back when they are a bit older.

 The first exhibit we went to was one about weather.  They had this tornado and John was just fascinated with this.  They also had exhibits about avalanches, thunderstorms and lightening, but the tornado was John's favorite.

John wanted to get in one of these planes hanging from the ceiling.  He didn't understand why they would have these planes there if you couldn't get in them.

 Once John saw what was underneath the planes he totally forgot about wanting to ride in the planes.  Underneath was a huge train exhibit.  John and Gus loved watching the trains go through the tiny cities.

Gus asked everyone to pick him up.  He sure loved watching the trains with his Great Grandpa.

 Gus steering a ship.

 It didn't take long for the boys to figure out that if you stepped on the colored strips it would make a sound.  It was kinda like a big keyboard.  We stayed here for a LONG time.

 The funny mirrors were also a big hit.

 For most of the mirrors poor little Gus was too short for them to make him look funny.

 As if we needed that head to get any bigger.

Then we went to an exhibit about farming.

 These John Deere tires are huge!  Jimmy looks pretty comfortable there.

 I always have hope that we can get a decent picture with all of the kids...

Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Easter Dinner with Family

Right after church we drove to Zionsville, IN to have Easter dinner with my in-laws.  We had lamb.  It was good.  Really, really good.  I should have gotten pictures, but I was too busy eating the lamb, potatoes, and broccoli salad to pause even for a moment to snap a picture.

Before dinner we had an egg hunt.  The boys knew what expect this time and went running to find candy.

Then we spent some time with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Christian.

 

And, if you think having a grown up in the picture makes the picture taking easier...it doesn't.

 

We had a wonderful Easter weekend.  Good company and good food.

Easter Morning Pictures

I try to take a nice picture of the boys every time they get dressed up.  I know every mother tries to take pictures of their children and if you have more than one you know this is not an easy task.  But, we do it anyways.  I got the boys ready a little early so I could snap some pictures before they were given any chocolate or juice or anything else that would inevitably end up on their clothes.  Of course, Anders decided I hadn't been paying enough attention to him and had been crying right before this.

 

At least they are all looking at the camera.  Gus is going through his no smile phase.  He is a happy kid, he just doesn't feel he needs to display his happiness to others.

Egg Hunt

My Grandparents, Aunt Diane and her kids, Jimmy and Ericka, came for a visit.  On Palm Sunday, after church, we had an Egg Hunt.  My Aunt Diane is always prepared with fun things to do.  The eggs were filled with little pieces of paper that told them what the prize was like bubbles, play dough, chalk and bouncy balls.  The boys had a blast.

Listening to the instructions.  John had to find the blue eggs and Gus had to find the yellow eggs.

 It took Gus a few minutes to get the hang of it.  He still doesn't get that you need to collect all the eggs and then check them out.  He wants to see what is inside right then and there.

 Anders loved all of the attention he got from everyone, especially Ericka.

 John knew how this egg thing went and ran around the whole yard searching for his blue eggs.

The eggs are all collected and the boys are claiming their prizes.  Even though it was cold we stayed outside for a bit to let the boys play...all of the boys.  Hans and Jimmy were having a pretty serious game of HORSE with our little basketball goal.  Jimmy won.

Yay for Moms!

We (my husband and I) just love our moms.  Even at 29 and 30 years of age we have managed to forget to send a card expressing how much we love them, but that doesn't mean they aren't important to us.  Our mothers are kind, creative, strong and loving ladies. They are also wonderful grandmothers.  We are better people because of them.

Thank you for all you've done and continue to do for us.  We love you!!

Happy Mother's Day

Love,

Katie and Hans

(and John and Gus and Anders)

This is the Life

  

I love days when they all sleep at the same time.  

Some day my kids will wear clothes.  Today is not the day.

The Adventures of August

I haven't written one of these posts in awhile.  I really should write down the things he does or says when they happen because I end up forgetting things.  I suffer from 'Mom brain'.  Here are a few of the things I remember:

We are currently in the terrible two phase.  This isn't a new phase, we've been suffering from it for about 3 months now.  I wish I could say it will be over quickly, but when the terrible twos are done, the terrifying threes appear.  It will be a rough, but somewhat enjoyable, couple of years.

Gus found Hans' wallet the other day and brought it to me and said, "Daddy, wallet".  He has a bad habit of emptying the wallet so I asked him to give it to me.  He looked at me, said, "no," then opened up the wallet, showed me Hans' drivers license and said, "See, Daddy, not Mommy."

If Gus had his way, he would drink milk for all of his meals.  During the move I didn't realize how much milk he was getting and it got a bit out of control.  Basically the kid wasn't eating anything.  So we had to cut down on the milk.  This hasn't been fun for anyone in the house.  He has been going through withdrawal.  Seriously, he was a milk addict.  It was so bad that he would scream in the middle of the night for milk and we are pretty sure he was sleep talking.  We all seem to be doing much better now.  He eats more and drinks more water, but he will always ask for milk first and he will always try to find the person in the room that doesn't know the milk rules.

Gus has started throwing things.  Anything and everything.  I've come to realize that some kids throw and rip  books and put things in their mouths and some don't.  John didn't really throw, never ripped a book and rarely put things in his mouth. So, just when you think that you have everything under control and you know what to expect, another kid comes along and reminds you that all people are different and that you must stay on your toes because what one kid doesn't think of, the other will.  Aside from constantly keeping my eye on all of our books to make sure they stay in tact I also have to keep my eye out for flying objects.  Sometimes these objects are soft but most of the time are not.  Soft objects aren't as fun to throw because they don't go as far and don't make a cool noise when they hit something or someone.  After getting hit with something the other morning Hans said, "Stop throwing things, I don't like this phase."  To which my smart-alec two year old replied, "I like this phase."  This sums up our life.

A Day in Kindergarten

I've been toying with the decision to put John in Kindergarten next year or to keep him in pre-K another year.  This is a not so fun decision that most parents with kids with summer/fall birthdays have to make.  I wanted to get the opinion of a couple of people as to whether he was ready to sit and listen and obey.  I felt good after talking to his preschool teachers, but I still wanted another opinion and the Kindergarten teacher at Messiah offered to evaluate him while we were in Texas.  Mrs. Kirk gave John a uniform polo to wear, I packed a lunch and off to school he went.

Here is his pre-school photo shoot.  He is into posing now...can you tell?

 It looks like he is singing "I'm a Little Teapot" 

 Hans hates this new posing choice.  He will work with John to choose more manly poses.

 This is a little better.  Can you see the front tooth that is a little darker than the rest?  This is yet another consequence of walking around like a ghost.  After seeing a pediatric dentist we have learned that the roots are still intact, but that the tooth now has blood in it and will probably be the first tooth he loses.  Poor kid.

At this point I was starting to feel very sorry for Mrs. Kirk.  John can be a little bit of a class clown.  But I'm told he was good in her class.

After being evaluated by his preschool teachers and Mrs. Kirk, we have decided to put him in Kindergarten next year.  The best quote from his evaluation was "John is a strong-willed boy.  He has his own ideas and opinions."  I've never heard a truer statement!  The good thing is that he is very respectful to everyone. Except his mother.  He takes correction gracefully from everyone.  Except his mother.  And he follows the rules...except those instituted by his mother.  So as long as his mother isn't teaching Kindergarten, we should be just fine.