Merry Christmas!

We've had three very memorable Christmas celebrations with one more to go! Grandpa Mike and Grandma Pam came to our house for supper on December 18 and Grandpa Doug and Grandma Linda came on December 22. It was so much fun to have them come visit us! We showed them around the new house addition and enjoyed watching them shower the kids with presents. David's birthfamily has "adopted" us into their family just as much as we've adopted them into ours. Who could ever have too much love?

Grandpa Mike and Kassy

Grandpa Doug and David

Grandma Pam and David



Grandma Linda and Kassy



Pickard Christmas was this past weekend, with the whole family home to celebrate. Lots of arms to hold and toys to play with. Kassy and David both enjoyed playing with cousins Johanna and Conrad, and of course, aunts, uncles, and grandparents too. Pribyl Christmas will be celebrated over New Year's, provided that the ice and snow storm decides to miss us.



Kassy was our 2009 Christmas present. Pretty Girl!



Kurt and Bobby checking out the kids' toys



We celebrated Allen's grandma's 92nd birthday today. Sylvia, Gail, and the kids and I ate lunch with her. David worked hard this morning and stuck a lot of stickers and scribbled a lot of crayon on a card for her. Aunt Gail kept David occupied and managed to serve birthday cake to the folks in the dining room.



Great Grandma Me and Kassy





 

The weather was beautiful today, so we trekked outside for a few minutes of playtime in the snow. David had fun pushing his payloader in the snow and piling it up. We probably could have made snowballs too, but I'm not ready to eat a face full of snow if I don't have too, so I didn't teach David how to make them. Kassy, I must say, doesn't like the snow at all! It was very hard for her to toddle in her snowsuit and even harder to crawl. It wouldn't be winter if she didn't get snow inside her mittens or lose a boot in the snow! I took her in the house to warm up and David chose that moment to escape the confines of the deck only to get stuck in a snowbank. I was only gone 3 minutes, but he managed to get out. I opened the front door and could hear him crying for help. Not to worry, I rescued him, and he "promised" to listen better next time.

Kassy's first snow experience

I also need to add that David is on night number 4 of wearing his big-boy underware at night and has been dry in the morning. He does wake up once during the night, Allen helps him go potty, and he goes back to sleep (with the help of his sippy of milk) and wakes up dry! Kassy has also been sleeping better. She crys when she rolls over, and if I don't respond too quickly, will go back to sleep by herself! Sweet sleep!





Caution--Kids at Play!

Today Allen and my brother, Matthew, helped Dad and some neighbors pregnancy check Dad's cows. He will start calving at the end of January, so it's good to know how many calves to expect. David helped round up the cows this morning while Mom, Kassy, and I made a quick run to Huron for ear tags. There was a mess-up with the tagger to install the new tags, so Kassy, David, and I went to Wolsey to get the right one.

David fell asleep on the way home but didn't stay that way when I tried to carry him in. I tried for an hour and a half before Mom and I decided to get a few groceries--a sure-fire way to get David to sleep! We had supper and did dishes before retiring to the living room to play with the kids. Kassy is learning very quickly that she has to protect her stuff from David and if she took it from him, she better be quick to keep it from him!

Also figured out that Mom's got a program that will allow me to rotate the videos from vertical to horizontal and vice versa. Pretty cool!!!

"Don't Get Up"

It's been a busy week! Hard to believe too that Christmas is next week.

I showered with the kids tonight and got David ready for bed. We snuggled together to read three books but only read three pages before he asked me to "shut the light off." This is how I know he's tired--he doesn't like to take naps and bedtime doesn't rate much higher. I turned the light off.

"Give me my milk."
"What did you say?"
"Give me my milk"
"Is that how you're supposed to ask?"
"Please give me my milk"

I handed him his milk and prayed with him. I kissed his cheek and told him that I loved him.

"Don't get up."
"I'll stay a bit longer. (Suck, suck from the sippy cup) "I love you, David."
"Don't get up!"

Each time I said "I love you" he told me not to get up. I never thought about my presence being very comforting, yet he was content just having me there. Eventually I did get up to leave and he questioned me about it. I told him that I'd be right outside his door and he was content. God is with me all the time everywhere I go.....do I just as easily take him at his word?


Can't believe how well Kassy is walking! Her grin is huge when we give her just a bit of encouragement. She walks around singing "e-i-e--o" and "baa baa baa" (the sheep in the stable goes baa baa baa). Have been a bit worried about her birthmom, Latrice, though. Haven't heard anything from her in a long while, even though last week was Kassy's 1st birthday. Hopefully its something simple like an unpaid phone bill. Called our adoption caseworker so hopefully will have an answer soon. Our birthfamilies are so important to our kids and we don't want to lose contact!

Kassy Walks!!!

Kassy took one step between Allen and me tonight at my folk's! Not long after that Dad watched her take 3 steps around the kitchen barstool. Allen and I saw her do it out of the corner of our eyes but she still walked! She hasn't taken any more steps this evening, but her first steps were taken!

Had a nice day celebrating my brother, Matthew, and Kassy's birthdays. Last day for me to shoot a buck for the season but didn't see a deer. Lots of fun noise and laughter with Jonah, Caleb, David, and Kassy. Grandma read stories, we ate homemade pizza and delicious birthday cake--Kassy likes chocolate cupcakes! Will add some photos later.

When I came in the house from hunting tonight, I was met by Jonah, Kassy, and a very wide-eyed David.

David: Have you got a gun, Mom?
Me: Yes, I have a gun.
David: Did you shoot it?
Me: No, I didn't even see a deer tonight.
David then studied my stock sock with all 9 bullet sleeves full and asked, "Has it got batteries?"

How does his mind process this stuff?!?

This is day 3 without an accident for David's potty training! He's done a fabulous job!

Sweet Saturday

Today we had lunch at Ci Ci's in Sioux Falls with David's birthmom Sylvia. She is so sweet and we enjoy spending time with her. It's fun to hear how her classes are going and about her work. She also introduced me to macaroni and cheese pizza--sounds yucky but is really quite good!

Grandma Linda, Grandpa Doug, and Great-Grandma Marilyn played with the kids in the afternoon while Allen and I did some errands. It's so nice for us and the kids that they can play at Grandpa and Grandma's instead of "out of the carseat into the store, fight about riding/not riding in the cart, no you can't touch that, put it back" arguments just shy of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The kids had a great time! I told Grandma before we left that David was wearing real underware but she wouldn't have to worry about him going poop because he'd already done that for today. Sure enough, he proved wrong! Good thing Grandma had a candy bar on hand!

Super Supercross!

November 27th found us with Nate, David's birthdad, and Grandpa Mike at the Swiftel Center in Brookings for Nate's debut in the Supercross race! Nate came to Brookings earlier in the day to try to qualify for the main event later in the evening. He won his heat, which was really great for his first try.

Allen, David, and I had supper with Grandpa Mike (Grandma Pam's soft heart had her working an extra shift--we really missed her!) at Pizza Ranch and then headed to the Swiftel Center. Nate sat with us a bit and explained how each rider gets to the main event. He chased David up and down the bleachers for a while too. The first couple of races held David's interest but after that it was more fun to run up and down the isle seats, which I'm sure the other fans appreciated. Allen took David for a potty break and just before Nate's race came back to the stands. I don't think David understood that the #12 bike rider was Nate, but he was there for the special race. Nate did really great until somewhere around lap 4 when his bike stalled. He had been riding in 2nd place and if he hadn't stalled, probably would have beat the guy in 1st. I was so busy watching Nate try to get his bike re-started that I didn't pay attention to the rider that shot off the track and hit the block wall. That poor guy was Nate's friend, Lee. He ended up having surgery on his ankle last week. He's going to remember that race for a long time--so will the Swiftel Center--there's a hole in the wall where Lee's foot peg hit! Anyway, we're glad that Lee will be okay and are waiting to hear if Nate will ride again in January.

Kassy's Moves

Today Allen and I both watched as Kassy stood up on her own and began working on her basketball moves. She kept one foot in place and pivoted around in a circle with the other. A girl after her mother's heart! Let's play ball!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great day! We got phone calls today from Grandma Linda and Grandma Pam wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving. They both made me feel so good--they are glad that we are a part of their lives! I shed a few happy tears today over those phone calls. We are very thankful for both of our kids' birthfamilies. They shared the blessings of two babies with us so that we could be Dad and Mom. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love you!!!

Three Whoo Hoo-s!

Whoo Hoo #1:  Kassy has a new tooth! Top right side began just peeking through today. The one on the left tooth won't be too far behind. She said "Momma" on September 29 (her first real word) and "E-I-E-I-O" last weekend on November 16th. According to my mom and sister-in-law, Kassy started saying "up" this past Saturday. I haven't heard her say it though, so maybe they are pulling my leg......(wink, wink).

Whoo Hoo #2: David has been doing a fabulous job with potty training lately, and today's big celebration revolves around a bribe for a "big" candy bar. He did pretty well this morning with only one accident (of course it would be on the couch--fortunately, he had taken the cushions off so it was on the plastic/mesh part of the hide-a-bed). He even headed to the bathroom on his own one time. We've been using M E M's as the bribe candy of choice (candy corn also works) but today David insisted that he wanted something out of his Halloween stash (no, Allen and I haven't eaten it all). On two different occasions he chose the fun size Snickers bars, which made it pretty easy for me to offer him a big candy bar if he went poop in the potty. I was very serious about giving him a regular-sized Snickers when I made the bribe, but I was surprised that my smart little boy was actually pondering my offer. Much to my pleasure, this evening at my parent's house, David earned his Snickers! Whoo Hoo!!!

Whoo Hoo#3: Rapid City Beth Moore conference November 19-20 with great friends and lots of new friends! Thanks ladies for late night pizza and lots and lots of laughs! Thanks for the photo, Jodi and Lynda!

Tricia, Lynda, me, Jodi

Here's a video of Allen and David having fun at my folk's.

Just in case you are interested, I added a couple of videos to the end of the "2 Little Monkeys" entry. 

Two Little Monkeys and More!

Today we were invited to Grandma Pickard's for playtime and lunch with Conrad and Johanna. The boys enjoyed playing with Grandma's train while the girls tried to take the train track apart. They have fun when they are together, and I'm glad that David and Kassy will grow up playing with their cousins.



One of David's favorite songs is "5 Little Monkeys" which is the song he and Conrad are singing as they jump up and down on Grandpa and Grandma's bed.

Kassy's first popsicle was thoroughly enjoyed!


Sunday evening we went to the Community Harvest Festival at the Broadland United Methodist Church, which is the church I grew up attending and where my parents still attend. There was a lot of good food and a lot of folks to visit with.

David and Kassy climbing the stairs at BUMC. Kassy would have kept going up if I hadn't "rescued" her.

Saturday we were in Sioux Falls celebrating Grandma Pam's birthday. It's so much fun to see how much David's birthfamily loves him! They all do a great job loving both of our wonderful kids. We had supper at Pizza Ranch and both kids ate very well. We even spent some time playing basketball (yeah!) in the little court at the restaurant. Of course David also loves the video games and enjoys pretending that he's driving the car. Somehow he figured out that the lever under the seat moves the seat back and forth. How did he figure that one out?!?! The kids fell asleep on the way home. They have both been doing very well at sleeping through the night. Kassy can sleep from 10:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.!

Grandma Pam, Kassy, and David driving the race car.

Kassy began waving "hello" and "bye-bye" this past week. Its been fun watching her learn how different parts of her body work. I can make two tiny pig tails on top of her head now, and even use little butterfly clips across the top. The clips are a little more difficult as she is an active little girl and it's hard to tame her tight curls.

David had a fun morning "helping" with laundry. He was totally content for 15 minutes taking laundry out of one basket and putting it in another. Back and forth, back and forth....He also may grow up to be a track star!

M E M's for David!

M E M's are David's way of saying M&M's, which are pretty much his favorite candy. We've been bribing him to use the potty or toilet with them. Today was a great day for him, too! Only two accidents at home this morning. We had dinner with Daddy at The Valley in Volga then to Brookings. He fell asleep in a dry pull-up and when he woke up at my friend's house, he was still dry and managed to pee in the toilet!!! Yippee! We played outside in the new sandbox that Daddy built yesterday (8' x 8') and he was still dry when we came back into the house. David was doing the potty dance a few minutes ago and VERY insistant that he didn't have to go pee but Daddy took him anyway and, as it turns out, he DID have to go. Needless to say, he's gotten his fair share of M E M's today.

Sandbox Boys!

Notice Allen's face--it's his trademark look whenever he's concentrating on something. Definately one of my favorite faces!

Kassy loves to swing! What a happy girl.

Kassy is getting closer to walking. I think I need to be a little more proactive with her and walk around the house with her. She does terriffic going forwards and backwards in the walker and can pull herself up on just about anything. She'll stand on her own for quite a while (did it for the first time on October 15!) but still opts to crawl when she wants to go someplace. I'm sure she'd win the championship if there were a speed crawling contest.

Cheese!

We were at home all day today! Wish I could say that I was done with the laundry and that the floor got swept (by me, not by David, bless his heart!). I spent most of the morning going potty with David or cleaning up "accidents." I've been doing some research on potty training and the recommendation was to put the kid in real underwear and he wouldn't like the feeling of  being wet or dirty so he would learn to use the potty faster. This method makes sense on paper. Also implies that there are no other children to distrupt the flow. I can only remember three specific "accidents" and none really involved the rug in the living room. I did discover that David does not like to be wet but playing is still more important---until it's too late. Then it's, "Mommy, you change me!" Overall, David did pretty well and did pee in the potty chair a couple of times. I will be glad when this lesson gets learned. Am already glad that we have limited carpet!

For lunch we had homemade mac and cheese. Both kids ate pretty well, and as expected, Kassy got into her food. She's pretty comical to watch when she's eating. Even if the previous bite did not meet her taste expectations and she spits it out she will still put bites of the same thing into her mouth over and over again. After breakfast this morning I found she had a lap full of watermelon! As you can see, she does like mac and cheese--there's not much that she won't eat except onions and peas. Carrots aren't a favorite yet but we need to try them a few more times before they are ruled out.

Say "cheese!" Kassy!

Kassy went down for a nap around 1:00 p.m. and I tried to lay David down shortly after that. The builders hadn't been here all morning but chose to come by at naptime. David played in his room until 1:45 when Kassy woke up. I knew he'd never go to sleep with all the noise from the air nailer, so we took a 5 minute ride and he was out. It began to rain about the time we were leaving for the nap ride, so the builders packed up. I carried David in and laid him in his bed downstairs. It rained for a couple of hours and unbeknownst to us, the water ran in through the hole in the concrete wall (plywood is a poor sealant!) in the room next to David's and came right into his room. Allen mopped the mess up with towels as best he could. Guess the floor heat will have to handle the drying-out part. Hope it's done raining soon!

Kassy Caught the Cups

Went to Bible Study this morning and then we met my folks for lunch at Culver's. Mom and Dad were heading to Sioux Falls for a doctor appointment, so the kids and I tagged along too. The time change has been a bit stressful from the napping standpoint, because David "thinks" it's 1:00 p.m. when it's only noon. He fell asleep about 2 minutes after we got on the road. Kassy didn't fall asleep quite so fast, but she's a good traveler and also succombed to dreamy dream land.

Mom and Dad went to their appointment while the kids napped and I returned phone calls. Barb, our adoption case worker called about the baby we had been expecting to do cradle care for. Everything is working out great with the birth family of Baby and they want the adoptive parents to take Baby home from the hospital. Us providing cradle care was a last resort and part of me is a little disappointed but most of me is relieved that Baby won't have to lose two sets of parents before going to his/her forever family. By far this is the best option! I also talked to my brother about tickets for the Newsboys/Newsong concert at the Swiftel Center on December 5th. We are excited to go to the concert! The kids woke up about 10 minutes before Mom and Dad were done, so a few minutes of "Bob the Builder" helped ease the wait.

Next stop was at Sam's Club. David got a box of Cheez-It crackers, which, as it turns out, Kassy also liked. David also ate an entire apple (really, I do feed the kid!) seeds and all. Mom got a few paper products for the Broadland United Methodist Church Community Harvest Festival on November 14th. I packed the back end of the excursion while Grandma and Grandpa settled the kids and we headed for home. We dropped Dad off at their car in Brookings and we headed to our house. At one point, I stepped on the breaks and a package of cups slid over the back seat into Kassy's seat. I watched this happen, so I saw the look of surprise on her face, and I laughingly commented that, "Kassy caught the cups!" David found this statement to be hilarious, because he laughed and laughed, making Mom and me laugh too. When our laughter began to die down, he repeated "Kassy caught the cups!" and laugh some more, which of course, made us laugh too. Poor Kassy had no idea what was so funny!

The builders have the outside walls framed when we got home today. They sure do make a lot of progress in a short amount of time! Here's a video of David enjoying the basement on November 6th.

Skid steer David

Windy Afternoon

This afternoon after the kids woke up from their naps, we bundled up and went outside to play. It was windy! I put two sweatshirts on each kid along with stocking hats. Kassy had mittens on but I knew that David wouldn't leave them on his hands, so I didn't bother to take any outside for him. Kassy and I headed for the swings while David went to check on his tractor, backhoe, and bull dozer in the sandbox. It wasn't long and he wanted me to push him in the swing. I helped him in and asked him how he was doing. He told me his hands were cold, so I put my cheapie one-size-fits-all with holes in three of the fingers on him. He was satisfied with that as long as he was in the swing.

Eventually David wanted to play in the sandbox, so I helped him out of the swing and re-adjusted the gloves on his hands. He quickly realized that the gloves didn't work very well for him so I told him I'd go in the house and get his mittens. I wasn't gone one minute, but by the time I got back outside, he was running across the yard and I could hear him crying--crying hard. I couldn't see anything wrong and figured it was too cold for snakes, so I chased him down. He tearfully told me that he lost the gloves and was trying to catch them as they blew away. I told him that they were only gloves and he didn't have to feel too bad. We put his mittens on and fastened them to his sweatshirt, which quickly became an annoyance for him. I distracted him by asking him to help me find the gloves. Caught in the bottom of the fence was a large maple leaf which is what I suspect he thought was that "glove" that the wind blew away. While he messed around with his mittens, I found both gloves by the sandbox.

Sandbox Kids

Both of the kids enjoyed the time outside, but Kassy didn't appreciate the wind. She does, however, like to eat rocks. When we came inside her face looked like she'd been eating chocolate pudding. She was more interested in having a sippy cup of milk (she officially left the bottle behind on October 24th) than having me wipe her face off.

Mmmm....dirt!

David never did wear his mittens. When he finally came up to the house for a drink, his hands were like ice cubes. He was unhappy that I made him come inside but quickly changed his tune for a couple of pieces of his halloween treats.

Treats and Sweets!

 What a fun Sunday we had! Fun began on Saturday night with a trip to my folk's to take Mom home (the house always seems emptier after she leaves!). The kids weren't feeling very well and David had been feverish. I knew he was tired when I asked him if he was ready to go to bed and he said, "yeah."

Sunday morning we went to church with Mom and Dad and skipped Godfather's (much to my chagrin!) in favor of faster food at Burger King. Both kids like the mac and cheese, and Kassy ate more than David! We headed down the road for Brookings to trick-or-treat at Great Grandma's house. We put the kids in their costumes before we got to her apartment. David had fun playing with his sister puppy that he didn't argue very much when I put him in his Bedtime Carebear costume.



David and Kassy



The kids played with Grandma and Grandpa Pickard and all was fine until David bumped his nose on the toy he was playing with. Bloody nose! Blood on the carpet, costume, his shirt, my shirt, used a LOT of kleenexes and wet wipes to get cleaned up. Lucky for me, Allen was fast with a rag on the carpet and got all of the blood out.

Pretty Puppy Kassy

Cute Carebear David

Back in the Expedition again headed for Grandpa Mike and Grandma Pam's house. Grandma knew of a good place to get David's hair cut (his 3rd, someday I suppose I'll lose count).  Then back to Grandpa and Grandma's for play time with them and Nate. Ate some candy too, of course!

"Flo" cut David's hair!

David fed Grandma sweet tarts



David and Nate having fun



Next we went to Grandpa Doug and Grandma Linda's house. Grandma fixed supper for us and we ate while Uncle Parker (in a gas mask) handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Kassy had a fever and wasn't feeling very well, which she evidenced at supper by throwing up in the high chair. Between David's blood and Kassy's puke, it's time to wash my sweater! After supper Allen, Grandpa, and Kassy went to get pedialite while Grandma and I went trick-or-treating with David. He did really well but wouldn't say "trick-or-treat" to the person with the candy. The last four or five houses he wanted to be carried, and he'd say, "Care-a-bear, carry me!" Grandma proudly introduced David as her grandson at the neighbor's homes, which totally blessed my heart!

Grandpa and David, Grandma and Kassy, Uncle Parker

 



Cousin Fun!

Today Conrad and Johanna came to our house to play. Conrad was first in the door--he didn't even have time to tell me "hi" or take off his coat and shoes before heading for the toy box in the living room. Johanna toddled in too, and wanted to join the boys right off, but was a little unsure what they were doing. Numerous tractors and implements were scattered across the floor but if you pick up the wrong one, the boys didn't like it very much.

Part of the morning was spent standing on stools in Kassy's room looking out the window. The concrete guys were here to pour the basement floor today. I can't believe how fast it's progressing! The boys stood on the stools and asked each other if they were ready to go play but  it took them awhile to leave their perches.

We had hamburgers, hotdogs, tater tots, and apples for lunch. Johanna fell asleep during "Word World" and had a super good nap--she got up at 3! Mom took David and Kassy for a ride and Conrad and I laid down on David's bed with two books. We read them, I gave him a kiss, put the rail on the side of the bed up, and left the room. He fell asleep all by himself! It was wonderful! Mom came back and I put David on our bed and Kassy was free to roam. Johanna woke up and got to eat dinner. Then she and Kassy sang and danced with the "microphone."

Kassy and Johanna each had another nap and for afternoon snack we had sugar cookies with pumpkins on them. They weren't too bad for not containing any chocolate!



The boys enjoyed watching "Word World."



Johanna and Kassy

 

Milk with our cookies

Other highlights from today and last week:
Kassy stood up on her own quite a bit today. In fact, at one point Mom and I thought she was going to take a step!

David took off his shoes, socks, and pants at a friend's house and ran around the yard. when I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I needed to pee." I asked him where he peed (he was still wearing a diaper) and he said, "Over there." He may have peed, but it wasn't outside of his diaper. Still funny to see him running around with only his shirt and diaper on.

More Birthday Celebrations

October 10th found us on the way to a bowling birthday party in Sioux Falls with the Stoops family. We all went bowling! We met lots of relatives and had a wonderful time sharing David with them. The bowling alley had a neat wood thing for the little kids that helped them send the ball down the lane. One time David thought he could do without the little contraption and he set the ball on the floor and pushed. I bet it took 2 minutes for the ball to reach the pins! Grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike planned ahead and had cake and ice cream for snacks. This time Nate had to help David with the candles. Allen and I bowled against each other in two different games with each of us winning one. The big thing for me was that I broke 100! Kassy bowled with other relatives who bowled much better than we did, so hopefully she took notes.

Grandma Pam helped David bowl.

 

After bowling we went back to Grandpa and Grandma's house for another birthday present. Nate had been shopping and found a sweet black and white police car--a 2-seater--complete with gas pedel, CB and siren! It's wonderful that there's room for 2--Kassy gets to ride too!   David is still working on his hand-eye-foot coordination, but we're making progress. This car will last the kids forever! It won't take long and David will be pulling Kassy over on her bicycle for speeding or some other infraction. Boy, I'm not ready for that!!!!!! It's wonderful how thoughtful Nate is towards David and Kassy too. We love to see how much Nate loves David through his actions and inclusion of Kassy.

Nate introduced David to his first car.

Grandma shares some love with Kassy.

Our next birthday celebration was October 16 for the Pickard side of the family. Cousin Conrad turned 3 on October 7th and it was fun to celebrate together. We began the celebration with a train ride to a pumpkin patch at Prairie Village in Madison. We waited a long time to get on the train but it was worth it! There was entertainment for the kids while we waited and even entertainment on the train. David picked a nice pumpkin, and hopefully we will be able to carve it before October's over.

Aunt Christine entertains her daughter Johanna and Kassy

Conrad and David practice "pumpkin standing"

If the boys can stand, Kassy will sit

Johanna had her face painted while we waited for the train.

David and his pumpkin.

Kurt and Conrad, Allen and David

After the train ride we went back to Aunt Christine and Uncle Kurt's house for supper, ice cream cake, and presents, not to mention the relatives who came to celebrate.

The final birthday party (number 7, did you lose count?) was October 17th at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Doug's. We spent the afternoon visiting Grandpa's new shop, jumping on the neighbor's trampoline, eating cookies and playing with the kids. It is wonderful to see just how many people love our kids! We had yummy burritos and my favorite cabbage salad and hot dogs for the kids. We learned that Kassy likes burrito beans and apparently they like her!

Grandma Linda and David jumped on the trampoline.

Aunt Teresa and David had fun playing together.

Grandpa Doug and David try to figure out David's new view finder.

Thank you so much to all of our family members for helping us celebrate the life of our son. He is very precious to us and we are very grateful for the love you all have for him too!

Happy Birthday David!

Yesterday was David's 2nd birthday. If you ask him how old he is, he will insist that he's 3, but if you count his years, he's still only 2. Whew-time really doesn't wait for anything. Earlier in the week we celebrated with my folk's-two star-shaped candles in his ice cream (he's not a cake eater). He was a bit afraid of the fire at the top of the candles and didn't want to get close enough to even try to blow them out. Grandpa had to help him blow out the candles but David managed to eat the ice cream all by himself.

Grandpa helped David blow out his candles.

Next celebration was October 7th with Great Grandma Laabs at her condo in Huron. We also had an honorary celebration of Great Grandpa's birthday. The kids played and ate cake, cookies, and banana bread.

The next celebration was October 8 (his actual birthday) with his birthmom, Sylvia. She met us in Brookings for dinner at Zesto (2 more candles on his ice cream, only this time Sylvia helped him blow them out. The smoke in his eyes freaked him out a bit but not to the extent that he couldn't eat the ice cream. Sylvia brought him a Tonka dump truck which he pushed up and down the floor in th aisle and benches at Zesto. Allen had to go back to work but the rest of us went to Lions Park and played in the sand with the dump truck, and enjoyed the slides, roller, and swings. Kassy enjoyed the swings and even crawling in the grass. I'm a bit hesitant to let her play in the sand-she eats it by the handful! It was pretty warm for October (85+ degrees!) so I boiled myself in my long-sleeved tee shirt. The kids fared better but David played up a sweat so much that his curls were plastered to his head. When we were ready for a break, we got in the Expedition and enjoyed the air conditioning. Sylvia almost had Kassy fall asleep in her lap! We really enjoy spending time with Sylvia. I love that David will grow up knowing her and how much she loves him!

Roller fun!

Today we spent the afternoon with my brother's family in Webster. We ate dinner (and sang 'Happy Birthday' to David) at Pizza Hut and explored the Museum (23 buildings!). It struck me that as hard as it is for me to relate to some of the tools that were used in the Pioneer Days, it will be even harder for my kids to understand. At least they didn't have any computers on display, so my era isn't quite antique. David and Jonah found a merry-go-round to play on. Kassy and Caleb could only watch. I'm sure that they were anticipating their turn.

After the museum we went to Matthew and Sabrina's for Subway supper and chocolate cupcakes. We enjoyed wrestling with the kids and read books too. David was pretty tired, so Uncle Matt helped David, Kassy, Jonah, and Caleb with showers and we headed for home. David and Kassy were both asleep within 15 minutes.

What wonderful celebrations of a little boy's life! Thank you Lord for our precious kids!

Catch Me!

David loves to bail out of the tractors, payloader, and as we recently learned, the combine is no exception. David and I rode in the combine with my dad as he was combining soybeans a couple of days ago. Time came to get out of the combine and move to the tractor and grain cart. Dad climbed down the ladder and quickly turned around, anticipating that David wouldn't wait very long before he jumped (what would it be like if I trusted God with the same abandon?). Dad caught David without problem, and I jokingly said, "Ok, now it's my turn!" Dad was still holding David and my little boy put his arms up above his head, ready to catch me when I jumped! What a sweet little boy!

I'll catch you, Mom!

Kassy and my mom had a good time hanging out with Sabrina, Jonah, and Caleb. The two little ones played very well together. Jonah entertained them with the shape sorter. He pretended that it contained popcorn and it popped out of the container. Made the little ones and the big ones smile!

I'll add picture and video to this post tomorrow.

Farm Boy

Fall on the farm brings a new season of work. Allen and some of the neighbors helped my dad bring the cows and calves home from pasture today and wean the calves. David and I took cookies over to the guys for lunch and of course managed to snag a 4-wheeler ride. After the sorting cows from calves was finished there was equipment to put away and other things (involving the payloader, of course) to do to get ready for the vets to come tomorrow. Allen and David went to scoop the old, rotten, wet feed out of the feed bunks and Dad and I worked a bit in the barn then went to help Allen. We found Allen taking his turn at a break and David working the shovel. Talk about a memory maker!

It was really windy today, so we all came in with dirt caked on our faces. Allen even got wind burnt! I think we'll sleep well tonight. Hopefully won't have to re-scoop the bunks in my dreams!

Silly Songs With David

Our little David is a singer. He listens intently whenever we sing a new song or one that he hasn't heard very many times. More often than not, he says "again" at the end of the song. I specifically remember singing "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater" 15 times because he kept saying "again."

On our way to my folk's this afternoon, David entertained us with "the wheels on the bus go round round round." Sometimes the monkey on the bus goes "round round round" too. He has lots of songs in his memory, but this is the current favorite.

A couple weeks ago I heard, "Old McDonald had a Pribyl, EIEIO." That's a verse I've not heard before!

Parade and Cooking with Chef David

This afternoon the kids and I went to the Sioux Valley homecoming parade in Volga. This was a first for both kids. I had my hands full trying to help David understand that there will be more candy coming-you don't have to try to eat it all right now. David would pick up a handful of candy off the ground and try to open a piece to eat with both hands full of candy. Kassy sat in the leaf-filled gutter and ate leaves and dirt. Hopefully that's all she ate! David came home with lots of candy, Kassy came home with dirt on her face and I came home with mosquito bites.



David and his parade sucker

After we got home from the parade, I wanted to make chocolate chip cookie dough and put the pizzas together for supper at  Allen's cousin's house. David asked, "What you doing, Mommy? What you doing?" I told him I was going to make cookie dough. "Cookie dough? I want to help!" I got a stick of butter out of the refrigerator and asked him to put it on the counter for me. He was very serious about wanting to help, so rather than doing as I asked, he proceeded to peel the paper off the stick of butter. I redirected him to the bowl on the counter and he climbed up on his stool. I gave him a spoon to stir with and he dumped in the oil and eggs. I never dreamed that making cookies could be so much fun! He was so interested in every part. His favorite part though, came at the end. He dumped in the bag of chocolate chips and reached in for a handful. He also got to taste the cookie dough, which disappeared almost as fast as peanut butter does.

After the cookie dough, I got ready to put the pizza dough in the pans. David was a little unhappy that I put the cookie dough away, but all was forgiven when I got the dough roller out to roll the pizza dough in the pans. I think he enjoyed rolling the pizza dough more than he liked the cookie dough but only David knows for sure! The final product did taste pretty good though.

More Memphis

Here are a few more photos of Kassy with her birthfamily in Memphis.

Antavius, D'Tarius, Darnisha, Apria, Latrice, Kassy, and Marquez

Kassy and Latrice

"Hey, Family! Lookin' Good!"

Big brother D'Tarius and little sister, Kassy

Allen and Apria in the "deep" (5 ft.) area of the pool

Big sister, Apria, Little sister Kassy, and Birthmom, Latrice

Big brother Antavius and Little sister Kassy