Birthdays

Avery has really been waiting for her birthday to come along. After celebrating Garrett's, then mine, and then Daddy's, she's a little puzzled why she has to wait for hers to come. She knows her birthday is in March, but that is a long ways away when you are only 2! I asked her yesterday what she wants for her birthday. She said, "Ummm, candles and frosting." I said, "Oh yes, I will make you a cake! But what kind of present do you want?" She thought about this for awhile and replied, "A green one." We're thinking of getting her a Barbie-sized dollhouse for her birthday this year. But everytime we go shopping, it's the matchbox cars and Thomas the train sets that she goes crazy for! Maybe we'll have to add a set of the Cars characters to her gift!

Just a few other cute things that she does at age 2 1/2:
She loves to wear her K-State outfit. She proudly cheers, "Go K-Steak!"

She comes sneaking into our bedroom every Saturday and Sunday morning. She used to crawl up in the middle right away and tell us to, "Make me a pot!" (spot). She leaves off her s's. It's really cute. Lately she will make many trips to bring all of her favorite stuffed animals to our bed before she crawls into bed. Today that required 5 trips. If Garrett is already in our bed, he kindly asks her to get the rest of his animals off his bed. Of course, she's happy to oblige her brother and proceeds to make several trips up/down his bunk bed ladder to retrieve his 5 favorite animals/blankies. She says, "I will get them Gawett." So today that sweet little girl made 8 trips with armloads of animals and blankets to our room before she climbed into bed. I was buried under stuffed animals!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too! We survived 4 days in our house with 7 adults, 5 children age 5 and under, and 3 dogs! It was wonderful to have so much time together with my family, although between chasing our own children around, feeding them, and putting them to bed, we agreed that it still felt that we hardly had time to talk to each other. Thanks Reimer family for road-tripping it to our house this year - good times were had by all!

Santa's Cookies

When we put out our cookies for Santa Claus, Garrett said, "We could probably eat one, right Mom? If Santa eats them all, he'll get fat." So we ate one!

Dear Santa

We are SO excited for Christmas this year. We've been cutting links off of our Christmas countdown chains every night. One of the best parts of Christmas this year - we are hosting it at our house! The Reimer family is road-trippin' it up to our house. It will be nice to spend Christmas in our home with our family. I'm excited for all of the cousins to be together for several days straight.

This year we watched Santa ride in on a horse-drawn carriage to flip a big switch and turn on the Christmas lights on the HUGE tree at the mall during the lighting ceremony. His sleigh with 2 reindeer was parked nearby. We also visited Santa at the mall and the kids both sat on his lap. Garrett asked for a "toy train" and Avery asked for a "toy train." That's no surprise!

Greg helped the kids write letters to Santa. Garrett asked for a "toy train and a remote control car." Avery asked for, "What Garrett wants and a bone for Casey." That didn't go over so well with Garrett. Boy does that little girl love her brother! We delivered our letters to the big red SANTA mailbox at the bank and were so excited when Santa wrote us back about a week later!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Baby News

I'm a little late in sharing on the blog, since most already know that Baby #3 is on the way! We are so excited to announce that our family is growing! I'm 10 weeks now and my due date is July 19th. It will be interesting to see how I survive a hot humid July at the end of my pregnancy! We will probably be hanging at the pool EVERY day! We had our first ultrasound at 8 weeks. Everything looked great and we could see the little flicker of the heartbeat. We'll get to hear the heartbeat on January 5th, our 9 year anniversary and my first dr's appointment! Can't wait for both of those things! I feel like I'm showing really early this time - guess those poor abs just don't hold things in so well the 3rd time around. Oh well. Greg and I have decided we will NOT find out the gender this time. We found out with both Garrett and Avery but since we already have boy and girl stuff, we'll just let this be a surprise. That might be tough for me. I have a hard time waiting for surprises and the suspense can almost kill me! When we ask Garrett and Avery what they want to have, Garrett says a sister and Avery says a brother. Then they proceed to argue about it!

Garrett and Avery were thrilled about the news. Garrett announced to Grandpa Reimer over the phone, "We're having a BABY!" Avery shared with Grandma and Grandpa Stohs, "I gonna be big sister!" Garrett has SO many good questions this time. It's really different having a 5-year old around to ask about everything instead of just a 2-year old like my last pregnancy. He wants to know, "How big is the baby?" "What does it eat?" "How does it breathe?" I have a nice pregnancy book with real color photos of babies at each week of development. For about 2 weeks, Garrett poured over the pictures, studying them closely.

Avery told me the other night, "I have a baby too." I thought she was referring to her baby doll, so I said, "Yes, you do." She patted her tummy. "Right here Mommy. Two babies." I guess she is having twins!

Bell Ringing

About 2 weeks ago, I spent 2 hours with a good friend doing a good deed. My friend Julie and I signed up as bell ringers for the Salvation Army. We had an evening shift outside a grocery store so we piled on the layers in 30 degree weather. It was so much fun and ended up being 2 hours of good conversation and laughter! We stayed warm except for our toes and we both agreed that they were slightly painful as they thawed out later when we returned home! If you have some free time and want to help out those in need, check out salvationarmyusa.org.

Sunken Gardens

Every year I love to vist the Sunken Gardens when it is in full bloom to snap some pics of the kids. We barely made it this year (notice we are wearing winter clothes!) before the first frost hit. Here are my favorites:

Happy Halloween!

15K!

On October 17th, I ran my first 15K! (9.3 miles - woohoo!) I had wonderful company, running with Julie and Shawna again. My biggest fans were there to cheer me on! I had 2 personal goals for this race - to finish in 1 hour 45 minutes or less and to run 11 minute miles or quicker. I was thrilled to meet both goals! I finished in 1 hour 44 minutes and eleven seconds at an 11 minute 10 second pace! Not to bad. Next time I would train more thoroughly and try to train for speed as my endurance improves. I really slacked off the month before the race, thinking that I was pregnant. I found out the weekend before that I was not, so I dusted off my running shoes and signed up! And I'm glad I did. I can definitely see a half marathon in my future...

a BIG train

Greg, Garrett, and Avery were lucky enough to see the biggest working steam engine in the world, The Challenger. It passed thru Herkimer, KS, home of Greg's Grandma Melba. The train was making it's way back from St. Louis, MO to Cheyenne, WY, where it is housed. It stopped overnight in Marysville, KS, so the kids, Greg, and Great-Grandma got a chance to see it up close. The next morning, it flew thru Herkimer at 60 mph as they watched by the tracks. We have some amazing video footage of it coming, puffing up huge clouds of steam in the distance as it gets closer to town. I had to stick around Lincoln for a late meeting at work, so I didn't get to witness this "awesome" train. (Just ignore the strange lady's backside in the first picture. We can thank Greg's photography for that!)

Pumpkin Patch!

We decided to check out a new pumpkin patch this year, ironically it's the one closest to our house! We went to Roca Berry Farm, where we pick strawberries in the springtime. We went on Garrett's birthday, the morning and early afternoon before his party, so it was a busy day for all of us! The kids had a blast in the haunted barns, the corn maze, riding the ponies, and riding the hayrack out to pick pumpkins. Avery rode the biggest pony, Stinky Pete, and Garrett rode Tanner. They both got a kick out of Stinky Pete's name.

Easton

I'm a little behind with everything! Here is a picture of (not so new) cousin Easton, Johnathan & Shelby's little boy. I can't remember exactly how old he was in this picture, but it was the first weekend that Avery & I met him. Garrett & Greg made a trip down when he was born to meet him in the hospital.

Garrett's Birthday Pics

Wow, has it really been 6 weeks since I've blogged? Life has been busy around here. Garrett had a wonderful birthday party. The weather was great, so we played games outside, chowed on some pizza and cake, and opened presents. Garrett, Avery, and his friends Andrew, Nathan, Jacob, Salora, and Abbey had a great time.

Happy 5th Birthday Garrett!

I can't believe that five years have passed since you were a tiny sweet little boy cradled in my arms. I am so proud of the bright loving young boy that you have become. Every day you amaze me with the things that you know. You are always teaching me about bugs, dinosaurs, trains, weather, and plants. You are a huge helper in the kitchen, the garden, and a good workout partner on your bike! You take good care of your sister and your dog. You are always telling me that Casey listens to you better than anyone else! You are a busy active boy with a wonderful imagination and I'm so lucky that God chose me to be your mom. Happy Birthday, Garrett! We are so proud of you! Love, Mom, Dad, Avery, Casey & all of our critters.

Garrett's Biggest Fan

Soccer!

Garrett had a blast at soccer clinic this fall! We enjoyed cheering him on.

Big Girl Bed

Just Like Mommy

This girl knows how to travel!

Summer Vacation

Here's a quick glimpse of our summer vacation to KC. I had more pics to post, but can't for some reason. The kids were good travelers as usual. We had a blast at the T-REX restaurant (although the food was overpriced!) and loved Schlitterbahn, the new waterpark. We were there for 9 hours straight with only 1 meltdown when Garrett tasted Avery's slushy and she was NOT okay with that!

Momentum

We went on a hay rack ride last Saturday during a gathering with members from Greg's parents' church. The kids enjoyed it although Avery seemed more wiggly than her 1 year old cousin. As we were going down a big hill, Garrett said, "The heavy people make us go really fast downhill!" I guess he already understands 'momentum!'

A Train in the House?

Last weekend we visited Greg's parents. Since Avery is now sleeping in a "big kid" bed, Greg and I split up and each snuggled with a kiddo both nights. Greg slept with Avery the first night with the windows open since the weather was beautiful. At about 7:30 in the morning, a train rolled through. Greg's parent's live quite a ways from the tracks, but the train sounded pretty loud and almost echoed through their house with the windows open. Avery sat straight up in bed with Greg and said, "Daddy, there's a train in here!"

New PDR

I set a new PDR (personal distance record) last Saturday. I was highly motivated to get a long run in, with the idea that if I could meet my goal of 7-8 miles, I will sign up for a 15K this coming weekend with my friend, Julie. Thanks to my beloved Casey (who ran the first 4 miles with me), my sweet Garrett (who rode along for 3 miles), and my sport beans, I ran a total of 7.5 miles in 85 minutes (averaging 11 min miles). When it comes to running, I can either be really "on" or really "off" so I'm hoping that on Sunday, I'll be "on!"

Swimming Lessons

A Boy, A Frog, & His Dog

Nature Lover

Our little girl is a nature lover. And a collector of nature items. So far her collection includes feathers, rocks, sticks, many acorns of different sizes, and pine cones. She fills her pockets with her collectibles on our walks. On Sunday, she said, "I can put these in my pocket." I noticed that what she was holding was very round and thought I should take a better look. Sure enough, it was rabbit poop!

She also loves to pick up bugs. On Saturday at the Sunken Gardens, she said, "Wook it Daddy, wook it, wook at what I caught." She had a bee in her hand! As Greg was trying to brush it off, it kept sticking to her, but thankfully it didn't sting her.

Yesterday as we were tearing out our garden in preparation for fall/winter, she showed me a giant grasshopper that she had caught. I wondered how she could have caught it. Since I was wearing my gardening gloves, I thought I'd take a better look. The poor thing had it's back legs pulled off - probably the victim of a neighbor boy. The grasshopper was more than happy to hang out on Avery and slowly crawl up her arm into her hair. She would just giggle and say, "He wikes me, Mommy. He wikes me!" We kept him overnight in our bug zoo and released him into the great outdoors today, after she held him again, of course.

Mollie & Willie

Avery is nuts about the cats. She can't quite get their names straight though. She takes Mollie & Willie and combines them into "Milwie." When she sees both cats, she actually says, "Look Mom, there's Milwie. And there's another Milwie."

Nighttime

As I was snuggling with Garrett at bedtime tonight, he said, "I don't like nighttime."

I asked, "Why?," expecting him to say that he was afraid of the dark or something like that.

Instead he replied, "It's so boring. You just have to stay in bed and you don't get to play or anything."

He always makes me smile.

Welcome Easton Lee!

Garrett and Avery have a new little cousin! Easton Lee Stohs was born on Monday, Sept 20, weighing in at a solid 9 lb 3 oz. Congratulations Johnathan and Shelby! Greg and Garrett have already met the little guy, but Avery and I will have to wait a few weeks.

I'll post pics when I get some. I've seen some pics on facebook and he's a cutie with light blonde hair!

Football

Wow, has it really been 3 weeks since I blogged last? Where did the time go? Guess we've been busy enjoying the cooler weather.

Greg has football on the brain today. After watching the K-State game, I asked him if he knew what the weather was like outside (It was 48 degrees and windy at 9:00 am this morning when we watched Garrett at the YMCA soccer clinic. Brrrr!) His response was, "It was still cold when I took K-State outside, I mean KU, I mean Casey! (the dog). Yikes.

Farewell Summer

About that last trip to the pool yesterday...there were not many people there. That spells FUN for us. The YMCA pool has a big waterslide that lands in the deep end. Of course, you have to be a good swimmer to go down it, so the kids can't go down. But they never seem to tire of cheering Greg and I on as we take turns going down and trying to make the biggest splash possible. Garrett and Avery stand near the edge of the pool by the bottom of the slide (with one of us) and they cheer loudly, "Go, Mom, Go! Go, Mom, Go!" They were also very entertained as we took turns falling backwards into the water and doing cannonballs. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or us!

Driving Crooked

Greg and the kids enjoyed some quality time together a few evenings ago when I went out to dinner with a friend. Apparently they had a lot of fun. As we were driving home yesterday evening, (we made one final trip to the pool to celebrate the end of our summer) Garrett said, "Hey Dad, do that crooked driving again." I'm thinking, "What???"
Greg said, "Not right now buddy." There were cars driving toward us.
Garrett replied, "Because there's cars driving Dad? And someone would see us and call the police and think we were crazy?"
I'm still thinking, "What???"
After we pulled onto our street, Greg demonstrated his very popular "crooked driving." He makes the van swerve back and forth in rhythm with our favorite kids' CD. I have to admit, it was pretty funny!

Backseat Driver

I love the honesty of a 4-year old. That filter for what you should and shouldn't say just doesn't exist yet. As we were driving down a narrow street the other day, Garrett commented from the backseat, "Boy Mom, you can't drive very straight, can you?"

I must admit, driving straight has never been a strength of mine, in a car, and especially on a bicycle.

Need a Dog?

Greg seems to think that Casey needs a new home this week. Problems arose early on Monday morning when Greg stepped in a fresh pile of dog poop in the middle of the living room floor at 3 am. This is very unlike our dog and very unpleasant in the wee hours of the morning. I shouldn't even complain. Poor Greg!

We discovered later that day that diarrhea seemed to be the issue but he made it through the day in the house. Tuesday on the other hand - not so good. I had to clean 7 small piles of #$% off the floor when I got home from work and another one the next day too! I should note that since Wednesday, Casey has been confined to the kitchen on the vinyl floor. Apparently a child's toy is the culprit. (It's slowly passing). But we're not sure exactly what it is that he ate. Maybe something made out of plastic from China?

This is probably too much information but I've done too much carpet cleaning this week and needed to complain to someone. And the thought of Greg stepping in a huge pile of dog poop barefoot still makes me laugh a little. Sorry Greg! Good thing he puts up with me and all of my animals!

Could it be true??

Yesterday we clapped and sang and danced. We even went out for supper to celebrate. What is the big news? Avery stayed dry all day at Lynette's AND all evening at home! Last week she stayed dry all day at Lynette's for the first time (but then not in the evening). She came home from daycare with a certificate and a big smile. I helped her proudly hang her certificate on the fridge.

We had high hopes to potty train Sis over the summer, but those hopes were quickly squashed when she refused to sit on the potty most of the time. Then I had high hopes that returning to daycare would be the big motivator that we needed. Once again this proves that children are always more willing to do things for their beloved daycare folks than for us.

We're very proud of her. She's not even 2 1/2 yet. I have to keep reminding myself of that because she already acts more like a 3-year old!

Running Tuesday

I'm following Skinny Runner's lead and blogging about my run today. I haven't done a long run for awhile, but was super motivated to get out and run today. It must be the stress of starting a new school year! Here's my workout:

Distance: 5.01 miles

Time: 54 minutes

Averaging 10 minute miles

Not bad, considering that I usually run 11 minute miles. My faithful workout partner, Casey, hung in there for the long haul. I usually don't run him for more than 4 miles with the fear that he will drop dead from a heart attack before he ever stops running. You've never seen a dog get so excited to see his owner in workout clothes! He did great today and the 75 degree weather was a welcome change from 100+!

If you like to run and need a little motivation, check out Skinny Runner's blog. I figure that if she can run 10 miles a day, surely I can run a few too, right?

There's a 15K coming up soon that I'm thinking I might sign up for. It's always easier to run long distances when you are working towards a goal. Let me know if you want to join me!

Back to School

Today was my first day back to school. We had a wonderful summer. We took a little vacation to KC and visited the new waterpark, Schlitterbahn. The kids had a blast! The T-Rex restaurant in the Legends outlet mall was also a big hit for Garrett and Avery. I'll post some pics when I download them. We also had some fun visitors the last few weeks. Annie & cousin Finn spent 5 hot and humid days with us and Grandpa Reimer spent last weekend with us.

Now it's back to work. The students start next Wednesday, so we have a week to prepare. Garrett & Avery had a blast at Lynette's house today. Garrett was so excited to see his best friend, Jacob! He said, "I can't wait to see Jacob. Avery, aren't you excited to see Jacob too?" They were both sleepy kiddos tonight!

Big Girl

Our little Avery is growing up. She recently switched to her big girl bed! Her bedding has cats and dogs on it, which fits her perfectly. She LOVES her big kid bed. She doesn't try to come out of her room. She hasn't been napping because she spends most of her time "reading" books! We listen to this on the baby monitor and it's one of the sweetest things I've heard.

I included a few pics of our big girl. For her birthday, Grandpa Reimer bought her a pink Strider bike (Garrett has a green one). She is getting very good at it! I also had to include a pic of her with her hair in a ponytail. She looks so grown up ! I can't believe she is almost 2 1/2 now!

Here a few of the cute things she says:

Yesterday morning she wanted to sit on the bathroom counter as I got ready. She asked me, "Wanna do our makeup together Mommy?" As if she wears makeup every day! I must confess, I do put some on her (not daily of course)!

She always says to Greg:

"Hey Daddy." Greg says, "What?" Avery says, "No say, 'Hey Avery!" I'm not sure what this is about, but it's cute!

When she wants to show us something, she says, "Look it, Mommy!" I remember Garrett saying "Look it" also.

Casey continues to be her best friend. She says, "I like Casey. Casey is my friend. He's nice."

One more cute story:
Garrett was stung by a bee twice last week. After many tears and hugs, he was okay. His little sis was so concerned about him that she made 3 trips up and down the stairs to carry his favorite stuffed animals, blankets, and pillow to him, which he had left in the basement. When Greg offered to help, she said, "I get it, Daddy." How sweet!

Summertime Cuties

The Cute Things They Say

I love to write down the cute things my kids say. I always like to think that I'll remember them anyway, but the reality is that I can't remember it all. So here's Avery's latest cute sayings:
-She LOVES cereal and mac 'n cheese. She's always climbing in the pantry to dig out her favorite box of "ceweals" or to bring me a box of "mac 'n cheese" (she articulates it so well!) to cook for her. Every Saturday morning she says, "I want ceweals."
-She has distinct taste in everything from music to clothing. When we're driving in the car, she says, "I don't wike this song!" or the other day we were listening to country music and the lyrics went something like, "bang, bang, bang." Avery chimes in, "I don't wike bang, bang, bang."
(This reminds me of when Garrett was a 2-year old and went swimming with Aunt Annie. She jumped in the pool and yelled, "Ta-da!" He yelled back, "I don't wike ta-da!," which really meant he didn't like the splashing!)
-If I wear a new shirt, she notices right away. She asks, "Where you get that shirt, Mom? It new?" She also showers me with compliments about my clothing. "I wike your pants, Mom." How cute is that? Look out, Greg, I think she might be a future shopper!

Happy Father's Day, Greg!

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad and husband we could wish for. Every day with you is a fun adventure! These pictures were taken when we visited the outdoor safari on Mother's Day. Just for the record, you drive very slowly (10 mph) through the animal enclosures, so the kids can safely ride in the front seat!