Waterpark of America

On Thursday after naps we headed to the Radisson Hotel and the Waterpark of America. John was project manager on these buildings when they were built a couple years ago, and we have not been inside them yet. I think we should have gotten a discount because of the work he did on them, but alas - nothing. We got a room for one night, and waterpark tickets for 2 days. Katie really liked our room because it had bunk beds in it! She could climb all the way to the top by herself. Once we got unpacked we headed straight to the waterpark.

They have everything you can think of in this waterpark. They have a lazy river that you can ride around on with intertubes. They have a big wave pool, a pool for swimming and basketball, 2 big hot tubs, and a surfing type area. They also have a HUGE kids area with 6 water slides, 0 entry area, water sprouting from everywhere and every 90 seconds or so a GIANT bucket of water dumps out over everything. For the bigger kids and adults they have 2 tube slides, 3 body slides and 1 giant family raft ride. These are the slides that you can see sticking out of the building. John and I did everything except the raft ride...didn't think Katie could handle that just yet, but for sure next time. She was happy just doing a couple small kids' slides and swimming with her life jacket. Will went down a small slide with me and Katie - not sure if he liked it or not. He liked the water, and he was a big splasher. We always thought with the way his legs kick that he would be great in water - well we were right. We brought him in the pool to swim with Katie and he would just about take off. Didn't mind getting wet at all. And as loud as it was in there...he still managed to fall asleep twice.


Katie also had a good time in their arcade...as did John and I. (Will maybe not so much.) Thursday night we got ready for bed. Katie was so excited about the bunk beds that she didn't fall asleep til sometime after 11. Will fell asleep around 9:30, but woke up by midnight and was in a MOOD. By morning we had deduced that his second upper tooth is coming in and bothering him quite a bit. The last 2 nights have not been fun...constant waking, and nothing seems to make him real happy. Shouldn't last too long...it's just about to pop through. (Yeah, I just keep telling myself that.)


When we left the hotel, we drove hom in snow, sleet, etc. We were supposed to get 3-6 inches on Friday, but ended up not sticking much. Yesterday it finally stopped raining, snowing, whatever. Today seems sunny and dry, but cold. I still say we will never get above 45 again.

John's Vacation

John has been off this whole week, so we have done a little mini vacation. He took Katie to school and picked her up a few times. She thought this was GREAT and has said that she doesn't want me to take her to school anymore - only Dad. :)

On Wednesday night I found a bowling alley that had the bumpers, and had a lane open for us. So I took everyone bowling. John has never been too exciting about bowling, but I got him to go. After 10 years I finally found a sport I can beat him in. :) Basketball, golf, pool, darts, you name it - I lose. We bowled 2 games and I can finally say I won. Don't get me wrong we all scored terribly, but I was just a bit less terrible. :) Katie had a good time, and they even had kids bowling shoes, and she loved her 4 pound pink ball. These pics are from my phone so they may not be great.

Will had his 9 month checkup last Thursday. He weighed 22 pounds, 12 ounces. (Less than what I thought.) His growth is finally starting to slow down a little bit! He was just over 30 inches long.

What a day

Initially we were going to spend the day finishing laundry and possibly picking up some new shoes for Katie. Then I saw the Doodlebops were going to be at the Mall of America. What is a Doodlebop you ask? The Doodlebops are a show on the Disney channel. It's a small kid rock band made up of 3....people, I guess. They are each a different color - one pink, one blue, one orange. Katie hasn't even seen their show, but knows their songs from the computer. I decided that we might as well go and check out their show at 1:30. How crowded could it be?
We got to the mall around 11:30 am, ate lunch and then decided to go get an early seat. They were opening up seating at 12:30 and it was on a first come first serve basis. I thought - heck we'll be really early, but that's ok. As we headed toward the rotunda I saw a LONG line of strollers. Yep, that was the line for seating - there was probably 100 people ahead of us. We had to sit on the floor up by the stage, but that's where Katie wanted to be anyway. The bad news is that we had to sit on the hard, cold floor for an hour before the show started. Will and Katie were VERY good, very patient, just perfect...which is more than I can say for a lot of kids there. The show lasted 20 minutes. :) They are giving a full concert tomorrow night at the Xcel center, but I would rather have a free 20 minute taste.

As long as we were at the mall, Katie wanted to do a ride and since she was so patient and was behaving so well we thought it was only fair. :) Nickelodeon is the new sponsor of the amusement park in the mall. They have changed most of the rides to look like or be named after shows on Nickelodeon. Again, Katie isn't really allowed to watch Nick that much, but she does know the characters. As we were walking through we passed one spot where they were doing a meet and greet with a few characters from a show that Katie has seen - The Backyardigans. It's a cute show about these neighborhood kids (they are really animals) that play in their backyard and imagine themselves in a different world. Got some good pictures.



Katie rode on the train, which is now a Dora train. Then we headed off to look for shoes. Having found NONE that both of us liked we gave up and decided to do one more ride before heading home. Katie wanted to ride the carousel. I figured the three of us could sit on the bench that goes around instead of an animal. Nope, they would only allow 2 people to sit there - I guess Will counts as an entire person. :) She said that I could hold Will and stand by Katie as she rides on an animal. Well that made no sense to me, but we went for it. As she is going around checking seat belts she tells me that her manager said Will actually has to be on an animal too. I ask her if it's really ok for him and she says it's totally fine. Hmmm....ok. As the ride starts, Will is holding on like a pro. I really wish we had gotten a picture of it because he looked so old. Then the horse started going up and down - he started giggling more than I have ever heard (unless Katie is tickling him of course). Every time it went up he would giggle and shriek. It was really the cutest thing. Katie was proud because she held on all by herself and I didn't hold onto her, like I usually do.
We had a good day, but I am beat. It's 10:00...now I'm off to finish that darn laundry.

Correction

Hey everyone - I just wanted to keep you informed of a slight change in plans. Turns out we won't be able to leave town tomorrow (Thursday)...instead we will be taking off Friday morning. Not a big deal, just wanted to let you know.

The new TwisterNeck

Monday night John and Katie entertained Will and I. Katie is quite the little showgirl, as if we didn't know that already. :) Here are some pictures of the new group. I have their first video too, but I'll try and post that later.


On a different note, Will slept very well last night. He went to bed about 10 and woke up at 4. I fed him, rocked him and after about 40 minutes I was able to put him back down and he stayed there til about 7:30! There's a first time for everything, and hopefully it repeats tonight. I can't say I slept great last night because I was still waking up every couple of hours trying to listen for him, sure that he was just about to make a noise. :) So I'm sure those of you that are interested are saying "what did you do differently?" I actually have an answer this time. John moved the little rocking chair out of Will's room and replaced it with our bigger easy chair rocker. This is much more comfortable to sit in at 2, 3, 4 am. Also, instead of covering Will up in a blanket I used the shirt I had been wearing for the last two days. Gross you say? Think again...people have suggested that this makes Will think that I am still sleeping inches away. It could be coincidence, but I would like to think that it had something to do with the success last night.

And just as we are making some headway...we go ahead and possibly screw things up again. :) The four of us will be heading to IA probably tomorrow afternoon. We are planning on staying until Monday. Our niece, Sarah, is getting confirmed at St. John's on Sunday. We are all looking forward to seeing her in a dress. I think the last time I saw her in a dress....well, Denise was probably still picking out her clothes.

AHHHH!

Holy cow. It hasn't started yet, but we are due to get between 5-9 inches of snow tomorrow through Tuesday. Back in IA it's basically just going to be rain. What the heck!? Katie was saying this weekend how she wished it would snow again so she could go sledding. Thanks a lot Katie. John was trying to tell her all the things that she could do outside when it warms up, but I guess it was too late. It will never get above 45 again.

New Poll

I have added a new poll question...actually Katie created this one. She came up with the questions and answers. :)

Bittersweet

On Friday I finally sold Katie (and Will's) car seat, bouncy chair, and Baby Bjorn carrier. While I am happy to free up some space in the sun room, happy to have provided a first time mom with some baby essentials, and happy for the $, I have to admit I am REALLY going to miss having those things around. It's like a piece of their lives is suddenly gone and will never be returned. We have turned a corner and can never go back. :( I also sold some more of Katie's clothes last week - don't even get me started on how hard THAT is. I think it would have been easier to sell them if I wasn't doing it 3 years after she wore them. It's a trip down memory lane before I hand them over. But then again...most of her clothes came to me with a story of their own from another family so it's only right that they continue on.

We are saving up for a kids picnic table for the backyard. I have more than enough to get one...now I just play the waiting game on Craigslist and garage sales until I find a used one. I don't want to buy new - it's a matter of principle. :) I am also waiting on a sit and stand stroller because as you know having 3 strollers already isn't enough. :) They all serve their own purpose.

The woman who picked up the baby equipment on Friday was 39 years old and having her first baby. She must have just found out last week she was pregnant because she was only 7 weeks along...and OH SO EXCITED! :) She was having nursery furniture delivered this weekend, and I have gotten 3 emails from her since Friday asking baby related and playgroup related questions. Her and her boyfriend are planning a Florida wedding...on the beach, at sunset. So I felt a bit of a connection with her to say the least. I'm glad I think most of the baby equipment and clothes we have sold so far has gone to good homes. :)

Cheerio

Will has discovered the joyous invention of the Cheerio. I gave him 5-6 on his try yesterday and he is very taken with them. He isn't really excited about eating them, but likes to play with them. He picks them up, drops them, picks them up, drops them. It keeps him VERY busy while I am trying to make Katie lunch.

Katie had school today. She is on spring break all next week. We looked into some summer camps yesterday. Trying to get the all scheduled before too many fill up. Katie says she wants to find a 'singing camp'...the little performer. She may have to settle for a soccer camp, and maybe some miscellaneous camps that sing songs along with other activities. :) I think we are looking to do a half day camp maybe every other week or so through the summer.

Once Will becomes mobile I think we will enroll him in the Gym class that Katie did for a few years. It really helped her get used to being around other kids and learn to trust other adults. With Will, I think it will help him learn to be GENTLE to other kids, and maybe learn some manners. :) He certainly won't have the shyness that Katie did.

Another Tooth

As I was changing Will's diaper today after lunch, I happened to glance in his mouth and noticed a new tooth. His top right tooth is poking through. No signs of the left one, but I'm sure it's soon to follow.

Katie got a haircut yesterday - a little over 2 inches were taken off. She was very excited because they put a braid in it, which she still had in today when she went to school. Katie said she was going to leave it in forever.

It's turned colder up here now - the wind is so cold! They said this week last year was in the 60's. We're all going through a bit of cabin fever I think...at least I am. No big plans the rest of the week...
For those of you worried about Will dressing in girl's clothes: Calm Down. :) I have two pairs of warm pj's that fit him - one happens to be Katie's Old Navy pj's. (Plus they are my FAVORITE - they are SO soft and snugly-I'm so happy we got to use them again.) Once the weather decides to warm up he can wear his spring jammies. I'm too scared to buy him new clothes cuz the little guy won't stay little!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

Despite Katie's mood at bedtime last night, the Easter Bunny paid our family a nice little visit. Will got some clothes, Katie got some workbooks, some clothes, UNO, and many eggs hidden around the house. (She found them all on her own!)




We went to an egg hunt yesterday, but because of the snow it was held inside, and wasn't so much an egg hunt...as people just giving out candy. But Katie had a good time. Will had to stay home with Dad.

Will is gaining a lot of strength. He can hold himself up on all fours for a pretty long time. He rocks back and forth, gearing up to go, but doesn't move yet, thank goodness. He has turned out to be good at rotating though. He can do an entire circle on his bottom pretty quickly. :)

Easter Eggs

This past weekend we colored Easter Eggs. Well, Katie colored - Will watched. I have attached some pictures of Katie's 'work.' This is certainly the cleanest year for coloring eggs, and Katie did a great job. She wanted to make an egg for everyone in the family, and bring them back to Waukon with us the next time we came, but we talked her out of that. She did make an egg for Grandpa Hanson, but Grandma Lyla forgot to take it with her. (Ooops!) Luckily she hasn't realized that yet.

Will is getting a lot better at sitting and standing. He does pretty well in Katie's old music chair. Eventually he falls out, but it takes a while. :) The teeth are still coming through, sharp as ever.

Holy cow! This little guy is heavy! (Katie wanted to play "Santa Clause" with Will.)

Happy Birthday Janet and Julie!

Holy birthdays Batman! Happy birthday to my big (older) sister Janet. :) And happy birthday to my college roommate Julie! Oh yeah, and Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone else.
Ok - we went to Springsteen last night. Wow. It was an awesome show, although John insists it would have been even BETTER if they had played one more encore. We didn't get to hear Born in the USA and a couple other show favorites, but all in all it was an EXCELLENT show. John and I got tickets on the aisle - great access to the bathrooms! We thought we would be inundated all night with people getting up and leaving, but we had a terrific row that only did that to us once. We had some difficulty finding food before the show - but finally found a nice little restaurant tucked away with immediate seating. :) Turns out we didn't need to be in such a hurry to eat because the show started an hour late...not sure why such a long delay.
Everything was amazing - Bruce, Max, Steve, Clarence - it was great. At one point I was watching Steven Van Zandt and thinking "Geez, Silvio - I can't believe you shot Aidriana!!"
We got home about midnight - all kids asleep...for the moment. Mom said everything went very well, and so far I have heard no complaints from Katie. Will was a pistol to get to sleep - this being the first time he hasn't nursed to sleep at night. He made up for the loss because he woke up about 12:30 and every hour after that to nurse. :)

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

Today is Jordan Mezera's 14th birthday! He is Janet and Jeff's youngest son. I talked to Janet today and they were eating out to celebrate the birthdays. (Janet's is on Monday.)

Katie, John and I went to "Horton Hears A Who" this afternoon. It was a very good movie. Katie really enjoyed it, especially because there was a very cute, odd furry thing in it named "Katie." :) I think it's the first movie John and I have been to together since....umm....let's see...I think the last Star Wars movie, like 3 years ago.

We are gearing up for Springsteen tomorrow. I am really getting excited about spending some time with John away from the kids. It'll be the first time we have been out since Will was born.

Change in plans

I just got a phone call this morning from my mom and she has decided to come up and stay for the weekend. Turns out she quit her job at the grocery store and is going to pull a couple shifts in the gas station instead. It just got to be too difficult working with the kids and other things. So I talked her into staying an extra night so she could babysit the kids while we go to the concert. It'll save us money and just makes more sense as long as she's willing to do it. :) Although I'm not sure what Grandmas charge nowadays to babysit...:)

It's warm up here again - mid 40's. The sun is really melting the snow fast. I can see green grass in almost half of our front yard! The sun was so powerful on Tuesday that we had our sun room open for the first time. I may be able to open it today too.

A first time for everything

As some of you know, our kids have been very sheltered from babysitters. Because we are always able to find family or close friends to watch them, we haven't had to branch out and use a traditional babysitter...until now. This Sunday will be the very first time we use a babysitter. John and I are going to go see Bruce Springsteen in concert, and we have found a wonderful (I think) woman to watch the kids. She actually babysits for our friends Jamie and Joe's nieces. She has family in IA, is 30 and just took the bar exam to become a lawyer. (So she has had background checks. :)) Am I nervous?? Yes. But I am also excited that we will make a new connection with someone the kids will really love.
I am already getting Katie ready by talking about fun things they can do, and how bedtime should go. Will really won't care one way or another, as long as Katie is with him. I think it will be good. So please, no scary babysitter stories...only calm, reassuring pleasant thoughts. :)

New rug

We went and got our new area rug today. I found one that I liked at Lowe's so we all went to pick it up and of course when we got there, I didn't like the feel of it. It was nylon and I just didn't think it was very soft. So John and I decided on another one (rather quickly too!) I have attached pictures for you to see. The room will start to come together when we get a new computer desk. The current one really doesn't fit the room to well. :)



Here is the entry way from the front door and garage door.


Here is the kitchen - as of yet. Still tweaking the look of this room, although I think it's coming along well.

Here is the downstairs - the main hangout in the evening, although now that we have the rug we may be upstairs more too.

Happy Birthday!

We must post a Happy Birthday to our friend Gina today. :) I won't say how old she is turning, but it is nice round number. Have a wonderful day!

Easter Bunny

I know it's a little early, but we went to see the Easter Bunny today. I was at the mall anyway and I thought we would see him while we were there cuz we may not make it back before the holiday. Will really didn't seem to care either way, although he WAS interested in him, but certainly not afraid. I'm sure he thought, "Heck, I could take this guy." Katie of course was VERY excited.


We had to go to the mall so that I could get to the eye dr. Last night my contact was giving me fits and had somehow managed to get itself off to the side in my eye so far so that I couldn't see it anymore. Finally after fidgeting for about 20 minutes I was able to pull it back out. I figured then that my 2 week disposable contact that I made last 9 months...was probably due to be changed. So I went and had an eye exam and got some new ones. And these are meant to be slept in as well!

We also had Katie's school conference this afternoon with her teacher, Ms. Laurie. This conference was to cover the 'academic' sides of preschool. As we had anticipated, it went very well. She said that Katie could recognize all of the capital letters in the alphabet and all the lower case letters that she asked. Then she went on to ask her a few sounds that the letters made and she said she knew those as well. (About 10 letters) Her teacher was VERY impressed and said that she was pretty fluent in many skills that most kids don't learn until Kindergarten. Her social skills have also bloomed in the last 3-4 months and she is becoming more vocal with other kids and her teachers. Ms. Laurie says that at circle time if she asks any of the kids if they have questions or anything to say, lately Katie ALWAYS has something to add. :) Hmm....maybe that should scare me a little now that I think about it....

Eruption at Mt. Will

We were feeding Will supper last night - a tasty little mix of bananas and apples. I noticed he was eating a little strange - moving his mouth differently. He was really making a mess between the mouth movements and blowing his food all out while performing raspberries. I bravely stuck my finger in his mouth and much to my surprise I felt a VERY tiny tooth just beginning to stick out. Actually we think that the 2 bottom ones are both poking out. We should be able to see more in a week or so, but at least we know he won't be toothless.

Katie is off from school for the week. They have conferences and teacher workshops instead. It will still be cold today although the high is supposed to be 30...I don't think it will get that high.

It was bath night last night and I finally got a decent picture of the kids in the new bathtub. It's very deep and very long - so Katie likes it because she has room to herself. It's pretty hard on the back to wash the kids up, but we don't do it very often. When I can't remember the last time I gave them a bath...it must be time to give them another one. This summer I'm hoping to just hose them off in the yard. :)

We're back

We are back from our travels down to IA. It was rainy yesterday while we were driving back, but warm so it never turned to ice or snow. It's cold today - 9 degrees about...although I'm not planning on venturing out. We have laundry to keep us busy all day, and get the kids back to their routine.
I think it's snack time right now as I can hear Will waking up from his morning nap (yes he took a morning nap!) and Katie is getting restless as it's been 15 minutes since we've played a game. :)

Update...

Hi everyone...just wanted to let everyone back home know that we will be leaving for Waukon this afternoon...(Thursday) and leaving again on Monday. So we'll be around for a longer weekend this time. See you soon!

Finished

Today we finally finished cleaning the townhome. We now have everything out of there, and have tried to put it back to 'new' condition. I have a walk through with the rental company on Tuesday, so we'll see if we get back most of our deposit. If we don't, I'll regret the cleaning we DID do, and wished that I had spent that time cleaning our new home....or not cleaning at all! :)

Yesterday the four of us went to Katie's preschool. They had their annual Family Fun Fest. There were about 6-7 rooms open that they had activities from making your own bubble bath soap, decorating cookies, carnival games, and music. I posted a picture of Katie picking out items to make a tic-tac-toe game. She is standing with her friend, Brittan, who is in her class, and one of her favorite friends. Will liked the music part. He could bang on a drum and be as loud as he wanted!



Later in the afternoon we went to my friend Anne's house for a La Leche League get together, but this time we invited the husbands. It was a successful evening and we are planning a BBQ now for the summer.

It's warmed up a bit up here - got above freezing this weekend finally!! It also looks like we will stay above 0 for the week...is the worst behind us now? It's been about 9 weeks since we've been back to Iowa, so this coming weekend we will be planning on heading south. As of right now we'll get to town on Friday and leave on Sunday (weather permitting), but I will let you know if that changes.

If it isn't one - it's the other...

Last night around 4 am we heard Katie calling for us over the monitor. (Denise, it still works great!) She wanted someone to come help her blow her nose. So I grabbed some tissues and scooted Will over to John - of course he was in bed with us cuz he had woken up 3 times by then. I ran down and helped Katie blow her nose - it was dark, and I asked if it felt better, she was crying and said no. I thought it sounded funny so I turned on the light and all I saw was red. Here Katie was having her first bloody nose. It was bleeding a lot and I couldn't get her to keep a Kleenex on it so I carried her upstairs to the bathroom and luckily John got up and was able to get it to stop. Once John was with her she was pretty calm about the whole thing, so I set to wiping what I could off her sheets, PJ's, blanket and everywhere else I could see.

After about 15 minutes she went back to sleep and today has pretty much forgotten the whole incident. We are going to look at her vents and see about setting the humidifier in her room at night - it's pretty dry downstairs. Other suggestions are welcome too!

Once we got Katie down then I tried to get Will back down - he fell asleep after about 15 minutes too. I gotta say he goes to sleep fairly easily....he just doesn't stay there. I picked up a new book today at my La Leche League meeting - "The No Cry Sleep Solution." Everyone that reads it has nothing but positive comments and says it just works wonders so we'll give it a shot. It can't hurt at this point!

Meet Willamina

I needed some pj's for Will the other night - the ones that fit him well were in the laundry, so I dipped into Katie's old stash that I am sorting out to sell. I found a pair of 18 month (YES 18 MONTH!) pj's that I thought would work. I put them on Will, and he must have sensed they were too girly cuz he was NOT happy. :) "I don't want to wear this mommy!" I think he looks very cute in them, and makes me realize how thankful I am that he is really a boy. I don't think this house (or John) could take 3 girls.

Valentine's Day is cursed

I think we'll be prepared going forward. Ever year Valentine's day seems to be cursed. Something happens that is just plain bad news. 3 years ago, Katie was a baby, we had a very nice dinner at home for Valentine's Day. That night I don't know what happened to me but I got so terribly sick - was up the WHOLE night in the bathroom, threw up probably 20 times (no exaggeration). The following year, Katie was a little older and I think it was a couple days after V-day. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pains in my abdomen and in my side. We went to ER, they did ultrasound, MRI, etc., found nothing. I did get pumped full of Demerol and felt much better, finally got sent home. I still don't know what was really wrong. Last year I was pregnant and I don't remember anything 'terrible' happening, other than being really uncomfortable, but it may have and I've blocked it out.
Now we come to this year. Last night after our wonderful supper we went to bed as usual. Will woke up around 1:30 and wanted to eat so I brought him into bed to feed him. Then I heard Katie on the monitor a little before 3 am. I thought at first she was talking in her sleep, but then she started yelling that she was cold and could she PLEASE sleep somewhere else! So I ran down to her room and sure enough it was kinda chilly. I brought her upstairs and John checked the furnace. It was not kicking in, the ignition was not working. In a 'balmy' 56 degree house I called the repair man, left a message, and we all crawled back into bed to wait. I don't know how, but we did all fall asleep for a short stretch here and there, and were awakened at 7:15 am with a phone call from the repair man. He came around 8:30 and replaced the ignition and filter. Happy V-day, says the homeowners :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!
It's been a good day here - Katie had school, and ended up bringing a couple valentines home. They sent the parents a letter last week basically saying that the holiday would not be celebrated due to different beliefs, etc., so bringing valentine's was going to be frowned upon. Well a couple parents said "to heck with that" and brought them anyway. :) I wish I had bucked the system too because Katie was very excited to get them, and wished she had some to give too. Oh well, maybe we can bring something special towards the end of the year.

John surprised me by bring home snow crab legs, meatballs, chocolates, and a couple salads. How do you fix crab legs you ask? We thought it would be a lot more difficult, but it was a cinch. We just baked them for about 12 minutes with a little water and that was it. Turns out they are pre-cooked at the grocery store. VERY YUMMY! Throw in a little lemon butter and we found ourselves a new valentine's day tradition. :) Katie had a bite...even though she was a little freaked out by the legs and claws. :) I was actually glad she didn't like it too well...I didn't want to share.

Stay warm everyone!!

7 Months Old!

Hey everyone - and Happy Seven Month Birthday to Willy!

In honor of this 'milestone,' here are some new pictures of Will and Katie.

Will really likes to sit and play with his toys now. So in the mornings we lay a blanket down on the floor (until I find an area rug that I like) and he plays while I get Katie ready for the day. (I also included this to partially show our upstairs living room. In the back you can see the stairs leading up to the bedrooms upstairs, and the stairs to the family room downstairs. The table in the back with the shoes on the floor is near the front door.)

The other night Katie really wanted to help, and I actually needed some so she offered to feed Will his peas. She did a VERY good job, and Will accepted it after he was sure that she was really supposed to be doing this. (This is taken in the dining room/eat in kitchen. The kitchen is just to the left of this picture. The sunroom - closed off for the winter - is through the doors in the background.)

Katie kept him about as clean as anyone. Although I am glad we didn't have carrots...they can stain. :) More house pictures to come....

Up and Running

As of now our internet is up and running again. I was able to get connected this morning after we got an installation pack from our cable company. I think that's the last major mission completed.
Will slept pretty well last night. He went down at around 9:30 and woke up at 4:30. That's 7 hours in his own bed - a first since Christmas. :) Hopefully it keeps going in the right direction for a while.
Katie sleeps like a log so far. She has blinds AND curtains in her new room so it stays darker in the morning. Seems she sleeps longer now. Of course the afternoon nap rarely happens, but she still "rests" in her bed for an hour or so every afternoon. Will is taking his second nap of the day - a feat we have not been able to do with all our running around lately.
Most everything is put away - a few decorations left to place, but all in all I think we can rest a bit.

Almost done

I am doing a post from the library today. We haven't gotten the computer hooked up at home because I have been searching for a good internet provider. So far there is VERY little to choose from. Every company I have called either charge $50-60 or they do not service our area. Unfortunatly our "free" cable went out yesterday so I guess we will break down and do tv and internet through the cable company - they were the cheapest (for now).
Katie is in school today so I think Will and I will head over to the townhome to do some cleaning. It's not what I would choose to do with my morning, but the sooner we get started on it, the sooner we'll be done with it. So far, the new house is still pretty clean. :)
The kids took a bath in the new bath tub last night. It's a very deep, long tub and it may be easier if I get in with them to wash them up. :) Pictures coming soon...as soon as we get the computer going. Hopfully by early next week. In any case if you need to get ahold of me the cell number is 612-499-1256.

That explains it!

We found out why Will is so chunky and has such a great appitite. If I would have known this while I was pregnant, we wouldn't have been so surprised to have an 8 1/2 pound baby!

He thought it was funny too because we were laughing so much. :)

New Baby

I wanted to let some of you know that my roommate from college, Cori - had a baby boy. I have yet to get all the details (when, name, weight, etc.), but I do know they are doing fine. This is her second boy.

As for us, Katie is still getting over her cold so we opted to stay home from school today. We are also spending the day packing up more things. The great thing is that our movers have boxes that we can use for free if/when we run out of the ones we have here. Katie and Will have fun in the boxes before we fill them up. Here is Katie and "Prince Charming" himself.

John has also been working on a new song with Katie. I think most of you will agree - this is better than any Barney or Sesame Street song. :)

Busy Bees...

We are still busy migrating to the new home. I have attached a couple pictures of Katie's room - the colors don't come through great on my camera phone - it isn't glow-in-the-dark pink, even though it looks like it. :)
The kids and I took a load of stuff over today and we washed the floors in the kitchen and living room. (I'm sure this will have to be done again in a few days.) The kids are really being troopers. I tell ya - you haven't REALLY moved until you've done it with a 3 year old and a 6 month old. And you haven't REALLY painted til you've been helped by a 3 year old, and had a 6 month old screaming in the back ground. :)
We have movers coming to help haul the "big" stuff like our couches, beds, dressers, dining table, chairs, etc. So Friday will be the first night in the new house...hopefully everyone gets some sleep.

Nice day outside

Today was great moving weather. It was above freezing, and not to slushy. John got another big truck load moved to the new house. We took down the tape in Katie's newly painted bedroom to see what the stripes look like. The lines are not as crisp as I would have liked, seems the paint got under the tape in some areas because it bubbled when you painted it, but Katie loves it and that's what counts. Basically all that we have left are the big items - dresser, beds, couches, etc., our clothes, and the kitchen/bathroom. Gosh when I type it out, it still seems like a lot. We are going to have some movers come - hopefully on Friday so we can be in the new house this weekend.

Our new address is: 1490 Heron Drive, Chanhassen, MN 55317.

Panting Day

Today we painted Katie's room. She helped a lot too - seriously, as you can see. The room will have pink on top and purple stripes on the bottom. We'll get a finished pic soon. Will was...ok for most of the day, but I must make this post quick as he is complaining downstairs and time for bed. John moved everything out of our storage garage today, and that is now at the new house along with a truck load from the house. Hopefully tomorrow we'll make a couple trips with the car, but not as much as today. I think everyone needs some time at home to rest too as we are all coming down with a cold/cough....except Will thank goodness.
I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the warm-er weather.

Week of birthdays

Hello everyone! Katie wanted to sing Happy Birthday to a few recent and upcoming birthdays in the family. Jeff Mezera's birthday was January 6th....Denise Wullner's birthday is Monday, January 21st...Jim Pladsen's birthday is Thursday, January 24th. I won't mention any ages (unless bribed). Have a great Sunday and try to stay WARM! (Glad we aren't moving this weekend...)

Sesame Street Live

Katie and I went to see "When Elmo Grows Up" this morning at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was very exciting and we had fourth row seats. Katie and I saw the Sesame Street show last year too, so Katie knew more of what to expect. We sat by a nice woman from Apple Valley and her 2 year old daughter. About an hour in there is a 15 minute intermission. The woman next to me stood up to go get her daughter something to drink. She came back and said that the usher told her that if we wanted to move into the front row we could, it was totally empty. So....for the second half of the show, Katie and I had front row seats. :) It was a great show and Katie loved it. She even got a high-five from Elmo. Hopefully the people sitting behind us weren't too peeved. :)

Cookie Monster

Elmo and Oscar

Bert and Ernie...(and the very nice usher who let us move!)

Grand finale

Growing kids

Will had his 6 month check up on Monday and we learned that he weighs 20 pounds, 15 ounces, and is 28 1/4 inches long. He is no longer in the 98th % for weight and length...he has dropped down to 95%. :)
Katie was back at school yesterday, and she surprises me all the time. Her shyness has gotten so much better since the beginning of the year, she chases after her friends, wants to hold their hands, and carries on actual conversations with them. Of course she has taken it upon herself to invite them over to our new house...so that will be the motivating factor in getting settled in fast.
Katie wanted to make a video for today's post and so we recorded one of her new favorite songs.

6 month mark

Yesterday, Will hit the 6 month mark. We celebrated by watching home movies of his first few weeks at home. Katie celebrated by, well, you'll see in the following pictures. :)

Will has started to eat some baby food - he likes the cereal, as does Katie. He seems to be ok with sweet potatoes and bananas (No, you can't have any Denise.) But now because of the new food, I think he is developing his first diaper rash. It isn't bad, but we have been SOO lucky til now.

Katie and John are planning to take in their first movie in a theater tomorrow morning. They plan to see "The Pirates That Don't Do Anything", it's the new Veggietales movie. Katie is pretty excited, and so is John, although the prospect of popcorn at 10 am might not be what he had in mind.






This is what Katie did while we were watching home movies. Please note - this is a permanent marker. It actually came off easier than I expected though. :)

Ooops...

In the last post remember how I said that this week Katie went back to school and we were getting back on track? Well turns out Katie actually started back to school LAST Thursday - we just didn't go. :) I took her to school on Tuesday and her teacher said "Oh we missed Katie on Thursday. Was she sick?" I gave her a strange look and said "No, I think the other Kate was sick." There are 2 Kate(s) in her class and the other one was sick the Thursday before Christmas. She gave me a strange look back and that was that. Well, Tuesday afternoon I was filling in the calendar with all the school and house dates coming up when I see that classes resumed Jan 3 for Katie. WHAT!??! Oh well, good thing this is preschool - it gives Katie AND I a chance to practice before we get to the real thing. :)

Getting back to the routine

Hi everyone - it's been a hectic couple of weeks, but we are now back into our routine and hopefully that means more posts to the blog. :) We are busily getting ready to move - trying to do as much as we can to organize things. I am also actively sorting Katie's old baby clothes and selling them on ebay and locally. So in the midst of all this I get a call last night from our townhome owners that they would like to show our townhouse to a family that is looking to rent! The woman that called said she told them we were in the process of moving so they understand that it will be a little cramped. Um, yeah, that's great, but did you tell them we have kids? So last night as soon as supper was over everyone pitched in and made the place sparkle. Katie was great with a dust rag and Will kept himself happy sitting by himself. I'm sure that's the last thing John wanted to do on a Monday night, but we got everything put away, vacuumed, dusted and cleaned in under 2 hours.

Katie was back to school today and very happy to get there. Because we are moving she will be attending a new preschool next fall. We went there on Monday to visit the classroom and speak with some of the teachers. She had a great time and the teachers even let her do some activities with the kids while we were there. She didn't want to leave so I'll take that as a good sign.

Will is a pro at sitting on his own now. He is really into playing with Katie and toys. I've got some pictures of him sitting, but have yet to get a good one of him and the toys. Also, because it was so warm this weekend the snow was in prime condition for making a snowman. So on Sunday Katie and John headed outside for sledding and snowman making. Will saw them through the window and got upset until I took him outside as well.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a calm and happy year to come.

Since we got back from Iowa we have actually been pretty busy. Will was waking up quite a bit at night so we bit the bullet and put up his big crib. Actually John put up SARAH'S crib all by himself. :) Hopefully she doesn't mind that it's being used by a BOY! Now we have even less space in our bedroom, but that will just make the move to the new house even better. Last night Will slept a little better, only woke up twice, and I was able to get him to sleep longer in his crib, than in our bed. I think we kept waking each other up, and the other little mini-crib was getting way to small for him.

We have also started Will on a little rice cereal everyday. I think this is the 3rd day so far and he is crazy about it. He opens his mouth very well, swallows, and has his mouth open again before I get another spoonful. :) Next week we'll try some green beans. And so it begins...

These last few days Will has really sat up very well by himself too. This is a bit sooner than Katie, but he has a bigger bottom for stabilization. :) This morning we were even able to leave him and walk away while he sat by himself. Got some pictures of him sitting.

Happy Holidays!