Language development

Owen turned 15 months this past week. One thing that I am always in awe of is the brain's ability to process language. It always makes me pause to think of such a complex organ that God created that is capable of so much. So with each of my kids, I love to sit back and watch their language start exploding as they begin to realize the power of language.

So I thought I would share Owen's limited vocabulary.
Our very favorite is banana, pronounced nunununa very quickly.
Buk=book  (His absolute favorite toy).
Mo=More
Ba=Bottle
Mil=Milk
Dat=That
Dog=any four legged creature
Ball=Ball
Mamamamama=Momma
Uh-O means I dropped it on purpose, but I'm going to pretend it was an accident.

I feel like he has more words, but I just can't recall them.

A day of Firsts

My little guy is growing up way too fast. This past weekend he got his first haircut which was very low key at the kitchen table. Yes, that is a fork in his hand. Not the most sanitary, I know, but keeping his hands busy allowed me to actually do a quick trim.  His other first was to use a utensil to eat. He was actually quite good at getting it into his mouth. Of course the dogs are loving it because it means more crumbs on the floor for them. They pretty much camp out under the table when he is sitting there.

I also caught one of them all playing together today. The girls took the box upstairs and Owen screeched so  loud that they had taken his toy, that they brought it back and all played together. We seem to have a box fascination in this house. Luckily, Ellie decided this one was too little to live in. Notice Owen's favorite toy of all--the toothbrush. He has them scattered throughout every room in the house and both cars. I guess his teeth will be healthy. 

Kindergarten readiness and Father/Daughter Sock Hop

I put on my second CPA hat Saturday morning and got to play the role of parent greeter at the Kindergarten readiness testing with Ellie. She was so excited when she got up. We cut through the backyard and she practically ran to CPA to meet the teachers and take her test. She has a summer birthday, but we think she is ready. I guess time will tell.

Saturday night was the Father/Daughter Sock Hop. Katelyn was beaming when I took her picture with her daddy. I got to peek at the setup when I was at CPA in the morning. It looked fabulous. She seemed to have a great time with her daddy. She came in fourth in the limbo. Unfortunately, the hula hoop contest is reserved for fifth graders, although she did get to hula on her own. According to Alan, she just ran around all night with her friends from one group the next. Katelyn did say she enjoyed dancing with her daddy.

Back from sabbatical

Sorry for not posting sooner. There has been so much going on that I have not been able to find the time to blog.

Let me start by saying that I have the best family in the world. How do I know? Because over the two week Christmas break, I had a sister that spent almost every day at our new house helping me paint, a mom and Larry that came down from Louisville for moving week to help paint, change out electrical sockets, peel wallpaper and you name it, and I had an awesome Aunt Joyce and cousin Allison that drove down from Louisville for 3 days to help paint, move and love on my kids.   We managed to paint 7 rooms during those two weeks and move in.

Needless to say the Christmas Holidays are a blur. We were blessed to have Grandmom Marilyn and Kit come down to spend Christmas with us. They didn’t know what they were walking into with boxes every where and our house and lives in a state of disarray. It was a lovely few days. The kids love to visit with Marilyn and Kit and it was nice to have another two pairs of hands around to help. We were pleasantly surprised with a knock on the door Christmas day, opening it to reveal an unexpected early visit by my mom, Larry and Sherry. They were due to come on Sunday, but came Christmas Day instead. And here I thought we would be spending our first Christmas in Nashville alone and instead had both sets of grandparents in attendance.

We visited the ICE exhibit at Opryland Hotel and it was COLD. We were bundled up in their blue issued parkas, but still froze.  

December 30 was moving day. We are still unboxing things, so I’ll post pictures of the inside of the house soon with its new paint job. Right now, it still looks like slightly organized chaos in some areas. 

I will try to be a better poster. In looking back, this is the only place where I chronicle the lives of my kids, so when I don’t post, I find there are gaps in my memories.

Why I love my church . . . leave your shoes at the door

I love going to my church, the community it fosters and the great friends we have made there. Many weeks there is a message that just cuts to your soul. This week's message on generosity was one of those. The story was a familiar one, one we have heard a millions times---the story of the Good Samaritan. Pete Wilson gave a great background on the Samaritan people and how they were treated during that time period. We are called to Love one another. To Love our neighbors. The question was Who is our Neighbor?  Did you know that there are 300 million people in this world with no shoes? Are they are neighbors?  We think so and Pete called upon us to Love our Neighbors by leaving our shoes at the door when we left as we partnered with Soles4souls. Yes, it was 30 degrees out, and yes, we answered the call. The girls didn't think twice about handing over their church shoes. (They actually thought it was quite fun and mischievous to be running around church with no shoes on and encouraged their friends to do the same.) I was so proud of them and it actually made me a bit teary.

We have so much and it is such a struggle to find ways to help our kids realize the many blessings they have in this world. Thanks Cross Point for providing the opportunity to teach our kids about giving.
The photographer who took these photos has more about the story and some great pictures at http://bohobellaphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/barefoot-sunday.html.

Christmas program and house closing.

Katelyn had her Elementary Christmas Program on Thursday night. The first grade recited the Birth Story of Jesus from Luke Ch. 2. They were amazing in what they had memorized and I also loved their sweet voices. Notice her curls. You all will never see them in person because her hair holds curl for about 10 minutes, but she wanted it done nonetheless.

Friday we closed on our house. I can't believe I can walk out my back door and get myself to work and my kids to school. I am also in shock that we are actually moving. We went over to the house and started painting yesterday. Katelyn is dying to paint (a messy endeavor). I did let her peel wallpaper in her room--Green Bay Packers border--and her and Ellie helped paint their closet.

One of the funniest things was the living room. We were not planning to paint it right away, but when we got there, we discovered that the last time they painted, they did not remove the picture on the wall. The kids decided to make that area their art display area.

Snow Day!!!!

Today we had an unexpected Snow Day.  So after making sure each kid had on three layers, we finally made it out to the snow. It was Owen's first real snow and he wasn't too fond of it.

He preferred admiring it from afar from the comfort of his mama's arms.

He also got lots of love from my neighbor, Antionnette, aka Anty Nette.

So after our 30 minutes of bundling up, the girls decided after about 10 minutes that it was indeed too cold to be outside.  So instead of freezing our tails off, we went in and had hot cocoa and popcorn with a movie. I guess I don't win any Mom of the Year awards for that lunch.

It was also a day for putting up Christmas decorations. This picture is of Owen pre-tree on Sunday. I think he was ready to get started.

We finished up our indoor decorations today. With us being in the process of boxing the house up, I  didn't get everything out. We also decided to be lame and not do outdoor decorations this year. We'll kick it up next Christmas when we are settled in the new house.

Latke Dinner and Pre-School Performance

For those who do not know, Ellie and Owen go to a Jewish Daycare. Although we are raising them, Christian, they are loved on well at the JCC and are well-versed in the Jewish Holidays and the old testament. Last night was the annual Latke Dinner and Pre-School fundraiser. Each of the older classes does a song. For some musical yelling, check out the video of Ellie's class. You'll recognize the tune. You have to turn off the playlist on the right side in the green box to hear it.

Sending out the Christmas spirit

I don't know about you all, but I love seeing all the precious faces of the babes around Christmas on the photo cards we receive. You would think with the thousands of pictures we all take of our kids all year long that we could find just the right photo for our own cards, but yet it always seems to allude us until the end. So I am at that place again of searching through my thousands of pictures for just the right cuteness to send out to family and friends. But for now, I thought I'd enclose some of the pictures that did not make the cut.

So I am looking for the perfect Christmas card--yes it is 5 in the morning and I can't sleep, so I thought I'd show you some of my favorites from Shutterfly. If only I could get my kids to pose this cute.

So check these out at  holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

·        Christmas photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

 Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards  

You can also get 50 free cards from them right now for posting about Shutterfly on your own blog. I think it is well worth it. Check out http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Thanksgiving in Louisville

We had a great time at the Biblehauser and Coombs Thanksgiving celebrations. When it is our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family, we eat ALL weekend. When the average Thanksgiving meal is 3000 calories, our family does lunch with my dad's family and dinner with my mom's family that equals 10K calories. We actually tried to get up and walk the 5 miler at Iroquois park, but it was raining, so we bailed.

The Coombs' family gathering included the annual  pinata. My 90 year old grandma was actually the one that knocked it down. I will say that my sister's boyfriend gave it a good start first.

The girls learned how to rock it down on some drums at Grandma's house.

The dinner hour was spent with the Bibelhausers. Cousins Rylee and Auria joined us for their first Thanksgiving. There were 33 of us for dinner, including the babies.

Native American Day

I forgot to post pictures from Native American Day. At CPA, all the first graders study Pilgrims and Native American Indians during the month of November. They capped it off on Tuesday by dressing as Native American Indians, doing crafts and having a Native American man come talk about his heritage. The kids heard stories, watched dances and learned about their traditions.

From Katelyn---What I am thankful for

I am thankful for my mom and my dad and my sister and my chub brother. I am thankful for my cousins, my grandma, papas, yard, that I am moving, and that I have friends and that I have a teacher and I am thankful that I have love. I am thankful for everyone that I know and to have a house and I'm thankful that I don't get sick very much and that I don't have to get up so so early in the morning. I am thankful for that I have a great great mom. I'm thankful that I have the love of God. I'm thankful that I have toys and dad to keep me from not getting hurt at home and that I have a dentist and a doctor. I'm thankful that I have a place to sleep and food to eat so I won't be starving. I'm thankful for my family.

I am thankful for . . .

A husband who loves me and our children unconditionally and is an amazing father--who affirms me as a wife and mother and challenges me to be the best I can on both fronts every day.

Katelyn--who is free spirited, independent, plays hard and sometimes a mini-me with her attitude. A girl who wears all of her feelings on her sleeve, who loves with all her heart and hurts just as hard--who gave me $20 of her hard earned money for my birthday and said, "I love you more than money." (PS. I did give it back).

Ellie--my wise, little one who looks at the world with amazement and thoughtfulness in her eyes at all the wonders God has made--whose little mind is always spinning with the most profound questions--who almost always gives in to keep the peace and is quick to give what she has to others without a second thought. She is my future missionary with a hurting heart for those with less than she has.

Owen--my little man. . . with a smile that lights a room and a belly laugh that makes you chuckle. He is a persistent little guy and promises to keep me on my toes these next few years. He is my tired snuggler tonight and I feel so blessed that he joined our family.

For family--and their love and support and keeping the connections even though we don't live nearby. The way my aunts and cousins love on my kids and still all get together for every occasion.

And I thank God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us and for his unrelenting love.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!

Have I mentioned that we might be moving?

We had no plans to move because we love our house and neighborhood. There are kids galore around here and our kids have made some great playmates. But we couldn't pass up the opportunity when a house became available that literally backs up to CPA. As soon as next school year, we may have 3 kids and me all attending CPA.  There is a gate out the backyard that goes right onto CPA property. I think I am still a little in shock because we didn't even have moving on our radar, but am excited nonetheless. So we are finishing up with the inspection process. Could use a little prayer about a structural matter we are having checked out, but are hoping it all clears.

We have been talking to the girls about moving and going through their stuff. Today, by choice, they were watching HGtv. Afterward, Ellie was in the kitchen telling me that I needed to take down the pictures on the fridge because "it is just too much." I had to chuckle. Maybe I can get her to take that same approach to her room. I have put a yardsale box in their room and told them whatever they put in there, I will give them the money for if it sells.

Our anticipated closing date is December 17. I am fortunate to have two weeks off at Christmas so I can get in and paint and take care of some details before moving the clan over. We will likely be moving at the beginning of January. So if anyone knows of anyone wanting to buy a house in Riverwalk, Nashville,TN. Give me a shout.

A Look back on Owen's first year

I can't believe that my baby is turning ONE today. This year has flown by. As I woke up early this morning with a million things flying through my head, I settled on one face---Owen-- and thought about how much he has changed in one year. I look at my sweet little boy who already has this little personality, and I smile, and I think of what blessing he is to us all. So as I was heading down memory lane of our first year with Owen, I thought I'd share some of my shots.

 He has been vigorously loved on by his sisters since Day 1.

  

 One of my favorite pictures. He looks like a little gift from God. 

 My Aunt Vicki sent the girls an Emergency Kit for those little boy diapers, complete with googles and gloves.

 

 

 Not the  happiest of monkeys

A soccer player in the making--takes after his Daddy.

Owen's Pre-1st Party

Owen turns one on Tuesday, so we had a few friends over to celebrate. Actually, we have three amazing couples that we get together with once a month, so we decided to roll Owen's birthday party into our traditional "Game Night." Only the game this month was watching the Titan's game.

I can't believe Owen is almost one. The girls made his cake, put on the icing and Katelyn even spelled out Happy Birthday. It is a one of a kind cake and was delicious.

It turned out to be a beautiful day. We watched the game some (poor Titans) and then took the kids outside to play soccer and games. Marco pulled Ellie and Owen around in the wagon and then took his little sister, Luciana, and Owen around. They make such a cute couple don't they? :) I felt like they were out on a mini-date with Marco as their chaperone and driver.

Stay tuned for my traditional Looking Back blog on Tuesday when Owen turns ONE . . . .

Look what happened at school today

She's back!!!!!!! is Owen next?

Katelyn returned to the soccer field on Saturday for her team's last game. After spending almost the whole season on the sideline with her broken arm, Katelyn came out ready to go Saturday even scoring a goal in the first half. I forgot my camera, so I only got this one from a friend.

 

Looks like Owen is planning to follow in his daddy's footsteps. He can't quite stabilize himself yet on his feet, but he definitely likes to go after the ball.

Look at me. . . . I'm walking

Owen started taking a couple of steps last weekend when mom was in town. 

Look at him tonight. . . . . He is ready to go!