Baby Finn

Here is Baby Finn, Annie's little boy. He's a sweetie. I've been meaning to post his picture for awhile. He has already grown and changed a lot since this picture was taken. I also included one of Grandpa Reimer getting over-taken by his grandchildren. Very cute.

Oh the cute things they say...

Here are a few of my favorite things that the kids say right now:
Garrett always dramatizes things a little bit. When he tells us that he loves us, it sounds like this, "I love you sooo much!" The "sooo" is very long and drawn out. I could listen to that cute voice all day.
Avery has a very sweet "uh-huh" right now. She doesn't even open her mouth to say it. If you ask her a question, she answers "uh-huh" in this tiny sweet voice. And her giggles...I'm listening to them right now. She is in love with Casey. She's sitting by him and he's licking her. She likes to grab his ball, hold it like a football and take off walking. He's always right behind her, poking his nose around her sides trying to touch his ball and she just rolls in giggles. This is truly one of the best sounds on earth. Casey also likes to lick her toes at suppertime while she's sitting in her highchair. We all get a laugh out of this.

Off to CO

We are off to Colorado for a wedding and to visit Greg's sister, Kimberly and her husband, Tucker. They live in Johnstown, CO (east of Loveland). We haven't seen their new house that they moved into last summer. We're excited. We will be attending a cousin's wedding in Estes Park on Saturday. It will be nice to catch up with the Stohs family in such a beautiful place. Casey gets to travel with us. Garrett is very excited about that! We'll return on Tuesday and will pack up again on Friday to spend the weekend in Wamego with Greg's parents for the 4th of July. So you may not hear from me much in the next week or so...

Perfect

A neighbor visited us today with her grandson. As we chatted in the backyard and watched the kids playing in the sandbox she commented, "This is perfect. You've got the kids, the dog, the garden, the sandbox..."
I have to admit, it feels pretty perfect. I have two healthy beautiful kids, a wonderful husband, and a nice home. Who could ask for more?

Where's Cookie Monster?

This morning at 5 am, Garrett woke me up asking for his beloved stuffed Cookie Monster. He said, "I can't find Cookie Monster anywhere." I went into his room and looked all over his bed and under his blankets, but couldn't find him. So I headed back to my room to grab my pillow so I could sleep with him. I figured he wouldn't be falling back to sleep without his favorite stuffed pal. That's when I found Cookie Monster. He was lying in the middle of the dog's bed. Uh-oh. Casey must have snuck into Garrett's room and stolen his favorite animal right out of his arms in the middle of the night. I did tell this story to Garrett in the morning and he and Casey are still best of friends!

You Need to Talk Nice

I keep reminding Garrett that he needs to be nice to the dog, Casey. Sometimes he plays a little too rough. Yesterday I was loading the dishwasher when Casey came up and started licking the silverware. I had several exposed knives laying there, and I yelled at him to move. Garrett piped up, "You need to talk nice to him. You'll hurt his feelings. He won't be your friend." Sometimes we need a 3-year old to put things in perspective.

Happy Father's Day Greg!

We had a wonderful Father's Day. We spent the morning playing on the playground at Holmes Lake Park and walking around exploring. Then we had a picnic lunch. It was a nice morning. Casey got to join in on the fun too!

Casey

Meet the newest member of our family! We welcomed Casey into our home last Wednesday, June 17th. That explains the week-long break from blogging! We met Casey Tuesday night at his foster home in Omaha and fell in love with him. By the time we went to bed that night, we knew he was supposed to be our dog. We adopted him the next day. He is finally getting the love and attention that he deserves! His previous owners didn't have time for him and confined him to their basement.
As you can see, he is wonderful with the kids. Casey is fully housebroken, loves to take long walks, and can play fetch for hours at a time. He brings the ball to you and drops it at your feet or puts it in your lap to throw it again! He enjoys sneaking in naps on our bed. We are smitten.

Siblings

One of my favorite things is listening to Garrett talk to Avery. He has such a sweet little voice and he can't make all of his speech sounds (yes I do analyze my children's speech development..). He will also mimic many of the nicknames that I use with Avery and the way that I speak to her. We took a walk to the end of the street the other evening (both kids on foot with me following them). When we reached the corner Garrett turned around and headed back toward home but Avery needed a little encouragement. Garrett said, "C'mon wil Avwy" (Come on lil' Avery). I wish that I could capture the sound of this in writing, but I can't.

What's Your Name?

I've been talking to Garrett a lot about safety lately. What to do if you get lost in a store. To stay away from strangers, etc. We just had this discussion again the other day. I asked Garrett what he would do if he got lost in a store. He said he would find another mom with kids. I said, "Yes that's right. Or find someone that works at the checkout counter. They will probably want to know your name. What's your name?"
Garrett replied, "G-G-Garrett!"
You can tell we've been working on our letter sounds!

Little Mama

Avery is a little bit of tomboy and a little bit of priss wrapped into one cute package. She has a nice start to her doll collection from Christmas and her birthday but has not been interested in them, despite Greg and my attempts at showing her how to care for her "babies." This changed after meeting baby Finn. We came home from our weekend visit and Avery picked up a dolly, and carried her around the house hugging and kissing her. She would tuck her into her doll bed and say, "Ni Ni" (night night). I guess she just had to see this in real life in order for it to make sense!
She also rocks her dolls. She stands up and swings them back and forth wildly and sings, "Ra ra ra ra ra." (Rock-a-bye-baby)!

Puppy Love

We visited Cimarron and Dodge City about a week ago and met my new nephew, Finn Martinez! He's a cutie and a very happy baby! We were lucky to be present for his baptism as well. Mike and Annie treated everyone to a fun BBQ in their backyard after baptism on Saturday evening. Avery is in love with Boscoe, their golden retriever. She followed him around all day on Friday and Saturday evening. Late Saturday as the BBQ was wrapping up, Avery watched Boscoe drink water from a big galvanized tub that was holding cold drinks. The ice had melted into water and Boscoe was thirsty. Avery walked up to him really slowly as he was drinking, studying him closely. Then she leaned down next to him to get a closer look. When Boscoe walked away, she helped herself to a little sip too! She would stick her tongue out and touch it to the water, just like the puppy dog. It was precious.

GRRIN update

Here's the latest update with our golden retriever adoption:
We are at the top of the list. There are 5 dogs available and 3 coming up for availability very soon. So far of the 5 available, 3 of them are not a good fit (don't like cats, older dog, etc). The case manager will be calling soon with more info about the 5th dog and the dogs that will be available soon. The 5th dog is a 5 year old farm dog that was used as a breeder for a backyard breeder. The 3 coming up are younger male dogs. We are trying to wait patiently for the right dog to come along!

Summertime!

Wow! The last two weeks of school were a little crazy. Lincoln Public Schools was in session until June 4th! It's crazy - school in June?? But Friday was the last day. It's SUMMERTIME! We are pumped for a fun and exciting summer at our house. As I tucked Garrett into bed on Friday night, we hugged his stuffed animals (Cookie Monster and the orange cat aka "Morris") tightly and said, "Cookie Monster and Morris can't believe that it's summertime!"
My thoughts exactly.

We kicked off summer by breaking out at swimming pool on the driveway on Saturday. Avery and Garrett both had a blast even though it was only about 85 degrees outside. We hit the park on Sunday, the zoo on Monday, and will visit another park tomorrow! The fun begins...