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.