August 2015

While we're waiting for baby, might as well get the blog ALL the way caught up!  August was a little more relaxing than July, since we got the Boyd St. house staged and on the market the first week of the month.  It took a small army to get it all staged, but with us and family and combination of furniture from our house, stuff my parents still had and a few things from Kunes' house, the house looked nice and homey after one late night.  There were still punch-list items to finish up, but Jeff wasn't working each and every night over there.  We staged on a Tuesday night, the real estate agent took pictures on Thursday, it went on the market on Friday late morning, had a showing Saturday late morning and they made a full price offer!  Then came the financing waiting game, inspections, etc.  By the end of August, we knew the financing was approved, inspections all okay and just waiting on the lender - closing date will be Oct. 8th at the latest, unless lender can move through their process more quickly.  All that to say, it's done and basically SOLD, just took a year.

Jeff has been working hard at NIFCO to get ahead on his project lists in anticipation of taking a week off when baby is born.  It seems every time he gets his plate more clear, it's seen as an opportunity for management to hand him more projects though - oh well, he tried.

I started every week midwife appointments this month, so it's getting real that baby will be here soon, which is fine with me.  My work has been similar thought process, trying to get all loose ends tied up and making sure someone else on the board or her assistant knows what is going on for upcoming events during September.  Since there will be a board meeting one week, golf outing the next week and general meeting the week of the due date, it's a lot of advance prep to try and do. (If baby is like Samara, two weeks early, it will all pay off.  If this baby is like Kalum, I'll end up being there for all the events anyway, since he was late.)  Not ideal situation for a planner such as I! 
 
Besides all that work prep, it was trying to pack in some more fun and play before Samara starts school on Sept 1st!  Samara got to go to a friend's fashion show birthday party, dress-up, nails and makeup, then walk on the runway and of course have some cupcakes.  We had a play-date with a friend from our church, went to the zoo with Courtney and Amanda's friend Tiffany, tried to take advantage of a week of cooler weather by getting outside some and took time to play at home not always working on my checklist.  

Tiffany surprised us with the news that their family is moving to SC!  I told her I am selfishly so sad that they are leaving Omaha, we've always been close enough to get the kids together or see each other when a group of friends were back in town.  But, I know this is a great opportunity for their family and it's what they feel is right for them right now.  It is a reality check not to take for granted the amazing people we have in our life, right down the street, a quick drive away or even a phone call.  Since Tiffany and I have been friends since 1986 (whoa - that's 29 years!) I know that we will stay in touch with each other.  We are blessed to have friends and family that all support us in whatever venture we take on and I look forward to adding more friends to that list as our lives go on.  In light of some recent events, I felt so compelled to remember the importance of reaching out to others to be a friend, a confidant or whatever you feel God is calling you to be for that person.  Is there someone we have just met or will meet in the next year that might be our closest friends in 30 years?

Kalum's Moments and Milestones for the Month:

• When coming upstairs to go to bed, I hear Kalum talking in his sleep one night.  Something about lots of cars here "zoom zoom zoom".  I see he is about to fall out of bed so I go in to scoot him over.  He was woken up a bit, but didn't realize he was dreaming so he starts quizzing me about why I brought all the new clothes and new cars in his room.  And, where are they?  I try to explain that it was just a dream and he goes back to sleep.  Then I hear Samara talking and go to her room thinking we've woken her up.  She is also talking in her sleep.  Saying, "That's cool.  Yeah, that's very cool."  I had to laugh - the non-stop talking in our house doesn't even end when the kids go to sleep!
• Mid-August we moved Kalum into Samara's room to get used to sharing for a while while baby is little.   As first he was a little too excited to be sleeping at all, but he eventually decided that sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor in her room would be okay for a while.  We put the side rail back onto the crib to keep that option unavailable to him. We will get a twin mattress for him in coming weeks.
• Potty training has been going well still, he just needs a reminder that he needs to go and not wait too long.  He has even had one night where he was dry in the morning and was in underwear.  Typically he sits on his little potty chair, but one day he really didn't want to go so I suggested he could pee standing up like Daddy.  That was enticing enough to get him upstairs.  He did it twice that day successfully, so we'll see if I've started a new norm...
• The vocabulary of this kiddo - sheesh!  He has taken after Samara in using words beyond his age, that's for sure.  At dinner one night he said he was going to "eat the tender stuff inside the gummy vitamin".  Seriously, our not even three year old knows the word, meaning and application of the word tender?!
• One day when kids were supposed to be resting (or preferably napping) in their room, I peek in and Kalum's going on and on about this robot he's going to build to kill some bad guys.  Then he goes over to Samara's bed and touches her head and says, "but not you because you're my sister.  It won't hurt you or lambie or Mommy or Daddy because I love you."  Then Samara chimes in about a robot she'll build that will "protect Mommy, Daddy and you [Kalum] because you're the best brother I've ever had."  She's laying on her bed and they give each other a hug.  Aw!  It's sweet moments like that that make some of the times filled with fighting, temper tantrums and just not-so-fun moments worthwhile.
• We got his new twin mattress at the end of August.  We went on a double-date night with Jeff's sister Laura and husband Nick and Derby's watched all our kiddos.  He fell asleep on the way home from their house, so we put on his diaper and pj's on the new mattress while he slept through it.  Guess he'll find out in the morning!

Samara's Moments and Milestones for the Month:

• Samara started dance class this year at Angie's Dance Studio, where I took dance from age 6 through high school.  Courtney and I went to the open house night and it was surreal how much the same it was!  The price was good and I felt comfortable with the dance and costumes they would put the kids in there, so we signed her up.  She used an Amazon gift card (Thanks Uncle Tom!) to pick out and purchase her leotard, tights and ballet shoes and was so excited to try them on when they arrived.  She seemed a little nervous when we first got there, but warmed up quickly and liked the class and other girls in it.  They range from 4-6 years old, so she's right in the middle.  Now she has some actual moves to practice and show us.  We'll have to go get her tap shoes before her second class.
• On the 31st we had her preschool orientation night.  She seems ready to go back, but isn't sure about it since she'll have all new kids in her class this year.  I think our choice to do preschool 9-3 on Tuesday and Thursday and 9-11:30 on Friday will be just right for her to bridge the gap to Kindergarten next year.  Ack - We will not talk about that yet!
• Well, now that they are in the same room, nap time is essentially gone and I just hope for a quiet-ish rest time.  Just before we moved them to their own rooms, however, Kalum was still going over to Samara's room to play anyway.  Here was the dialogue one day... Samara is explaining to Kalum why he needs to go to his room for rest time, after she yells to him to get out of her room.  I just let these things play out sometimes to see what will happen. :)
• S- "We need to have rest time so our brain can get smarter and smarter."
• K- "I'm already smarter" (starts crying)
• S- (in very nice voice) "You need to listen to me, not just sit there and stare at the wall.  That's boring."
• K- (crying more)
• S- "Are you ready to calm down now?  Can you come here and hug me?"
• K- (quiet)
• Then they start playing and wrestling in the hallway where this discussion was taking place.
• S- "Kalum get off my head. (laughing) It actually makes it so I can hear better. Kalum you're the best brother I've ever had."

Here's the pics from August - September should have some NEW BABY pictures, hopefully!  If not, another October baby it is for our family... We'll see what this early fall brings I guess.

July 2015

July!  This month was marked with two firsts for the kids, Amanda traveling for work, lots of progress on the Boyd St. house in Ashland, some fun events with family, and Samara turning 5.  The kids got to go to their first baseball game in early July.  Gemma brought them over to Amanda's NARI work event to enjoy the tailgate and then the Omaha Stormchasers baseball game.  They enjoyed the cheering, mascots and most of all the ice cream!  On a weekday morning we (Mommy and Auntie Courtney) took them both to their first real movie at the theater - went with a safe option, Curious George.  They both did well through the whole movie, Kalum just got a little cuddly on Mommy's lap at one part when the bad guys took George and put him in a cage.  It was apparently a little too real for him when it was on the big screen!

I had a work meeting in Des Plaines, IL for two days so Jeff took a day off to hang with the kiddos.  I'm glad the trip wasn't any further along in my pregnancy, all the sitting in airplanes, meetings, at meals, etc. was a little much for my growing belly.  But besides the swollen feet and ankles that resulted, it was a good meeting and helps me feel a little refreshed to come back to the kids.  This month I had the glucose test and my levels were fine, so I didn't have to do the three hour test this time.  My pregnancy has been going well, thankfully, things progressing smoothly with no complications, just plenty of Braxton-Hicks contractions.  Jeff keeps saying that baby needs to hang out in there until the house is finished!  Though very exhausting for all involved, he made HUGE strides during this eight-week time and in the end, we basically met our goal of having the house totally done by the end of the month.  The house looks great and it sounds like we will be able to put it on the market for more than we originally had planned per our real estate agents.  You'll have to wait for August to see the photos once it was done besides very final steps and staging done!

We got together with all the Pennell extended family to have an early 95th Birthday celebration for Grandpa Pennell.  It was nice to have everyone together, even those from out of town, and we got some good photos of the whole crowd.  Everyone put together a book of cards and letters for Grandpa for him to keep.  It brought of conversations of memories from times together through the years, always fun to reminisce.

We also had a get together with our Journey Group from church, a good group of people who all get along and the kids do too, so it was a great evening.  We'll start meeting again as we get into fall and start a new bible study.

The last party of the month was Samara's 5th Birthday Party!  Five for some reason seems so much older than four...halfway to ten?!?!  She got her 5 year pictures taken and it was the easiest photo session ever, natural smiles and genuine happy in every photo - a nice change from begging and pleading for results of cheesy grins or crying that you tend to have with younger kiddos.  She debated between a My Little Pony party and a Tinkerbell party, but in the end Tinkerbell it was.  Gemma made her a cute little Tinkerbell dress and her couple friends she invited got to make paper fairy wings and take home Tinkerbell flip-flops that Samara and I had decorated.  Samara requested sandwiches and macaroni & cheese for lunch, so we made that happen, along with other snacks and, of course, cake and ice cream.  Thanks to all who pitched in when they arrived to make the lunch happen, it ended up being a little too much to pull off by herself for this prego mama (though I do try to "do it all" anyway)!  Everyone enjoyed the quick lunch party and Samara actually allowed her friends that came to help her open gifts - a delegating leader in her future possibly?  She got a mix of clothes, toys, art supplies, a suitcase, and even a sewing machine with sewing lessons with Gemma included.

Samara's Moments for the Month:

• Loves animals, unless they are eating our plants or flowers!  There were Japanese beetles on our front flowers and she gladly pounded them with a stick and stomped on them.  Bunnies near our garden and she's eager to run and scare them away, yelling at them all the way.
• Samara enjoyed her first baseball game this month - She didn't love it at first, all the warming up between innings, etc.  She did like cheering and the ice cream (besides the throat freeze incident).
• At 5 years she is 44" tall (79% for height) and 39 lbs (50% for weight).  Still a tall and thin little lady.  She didn't go for a five year check-up, as they will save that for about 6 months out from kindergarten, when she can get a physical and needed shots.  She is already dreading the shots and blood draw that she heard about in preschool this year from some of her classmates.
• All of a sudden she is writing letters all the time.  Her name, Kalum's name, alphabet and just random letters.  On paper, in notepads or even the steamed up shower door. :)

Kalum's Moments for the Month:

•  Potty training update - got up in the middle of the night and had to go potty.  Then he needed help getting re-dressed, but still - progress!  He's really close to being totally potty trained.  Underwear all day and diapers just at night.  Often dry in the morning anyway.
• Went to first baseball game this month - Liked watching the players and all the sights and sounds.  Ice cream was a big hit of course as well!
• This month he is about 38" tall and about 35 lbs.  So, guessing about 50% for height and 85% for weight, based on charts online.  He'll be able to hold his own basically. :)

June 2015

Okay - catch up time again, the summer has gone so quickly, so we'll tackle June and July before August comes to a close!  Jeff and I made an 8 week plan to get the Boyd Street house basically done and ready to go on the market - so June began that the craziness!  Jeff wasted no time and put in a ton of hours this month, meaning I had lots of time with the kiddos at home - day and night.  We did take time to celebrate Papa's birthday at the beginning of the month and had dinner at Pennell's the Saturday evening before they left for their cruise, and Jeff's parents joined us as well. 

We made last minute plans to join Jeff's cousins on a Father's Day weekend trip to Adventureland in Des Moines.  We were ready for a break and wanted the kids to have a mini-vacation this summer, since with all the work in Ashland and my growing belly.  Tough Samara noted it was much shorter than our week-long SD vacation last year.  We had a fun time, kids enjoying the kiddie rides and water park on Saturday, eating Culver's for dinner and some time with Jeff's Green family cousins and their kids.  Sunday we headed back after breakfast and were home in time to have dinner at Jeff's parents that evening.  So, that was vacation, short but sweet.

The rest of the month was back to work for Jeff and me trying to avoid any heat we were having - the kids were denied playing outside a few times, I will admit that.  We enjoyed fireworks at the end of the month that Shadow Lake puts on, from a friends house.  The kids were all about them again and seemed to expect that we would be having a similar show from our driveway in July - um... probably not. :)

Kalum's Moments for the Month:

• June 1 was official potty training day one!  Started him in underwear all the time (except overnight), watching him all the time the first few days for signs of needing to go.  He has done well so far, accidents only when Mom got busy with something and wasn't watching close enough.  Maybe TMI for you, but finally went #2 on the potty by Thursday morning (day 4) and was SO thrilled to choose a treat!  
• Saw Husker football player as a guest story time reader at the library.  At dinner he said, "I'm gonna be a foot ball player.  I'm never gonna stop playing football!"  HAD to find his football and go play outside after dinner.
• Mid June he figured out how to cross his eyes - and so does it as often as he can.  And loves that it makes Samara laugh.
• Adds extra syllables into words, so cute.  Ex: Rowabot = robot
• While "fixing" his bike with a wrench, kept saying "There's just one more little problem" and tinkers some more.  Sounds like (Thewes just one mow wittow pwobwem).
• Said "I love you mommy" with no prompting at bedtime hug.  Heart melting.  Something about a little boy saying that is different than a little girl.
• Instead of saying something shoots at something else, he says it "pews" on it as in the gun sound, "pew, pew"  When he needs to blow on his food to cool it down, he says he needs to or asks you to "phu" on it.  :)

Samara's Moments for the Month:

• Beginning of the month tantrums started up again.  We still aren't sure if it's from fatigue or what yet.  Going to focus on stricter bedtime again and giving her one on one attention when possible each day.
• Keeps talking about the baby's "extension cord" instead of umbilical cord.  Too funny!
• Mid month had a collision with Kalum a couple weeks ago.  inside of front lip bled but at time we iced it.  Now front tooth is darkening.  :(  Phone call to dentist - said no worries at this time if gums look okay, but if any changes to bring her in.  Maybe she'll lose the tooth before it gets really bad...
• We are always getting suggestions by the kids for baby names for their new sibling.  She was calling one of her toys "cat" and I said (jokingly, though she took it seriously of course) maybe if it's a girl we can name our baby Cat and call her kitty cat!  She was like, "Yes, that's so cute!".  Kalum jumps in and says, "if it's a boy, how about Dinosaur!"  Samara says, "No, I don't want to be his prey!" haha!
• Makes up her own songs while she's doing things.  Sometimes to a familiar tune, sometimes a tune all her own.
• One night she was singing a lullaby to baby with her cheek and hands plastered to my belly.  She wanted to feel the baby move, but it was being totally still.  I told her that her song (about anything from her pretty dolls to Kalum's cool toy cars to the fact that it doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl, God loves you and He is in heaven and right beside you even when you don't see him) must have made baby sleepy.  She said she hoped the baby wouldn't waky anytime soon because it meant her song really worked. <3 li="">

That was June, now off to July - more summer fun!

May 2015

May has come and gone and so has spring!  This was a great month - lots going on with family and friends, the preschool year wrapping up for Samara, a lighter workload for Amanda's work and the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel on our first reno house in Ashland.  We got to celebrate Grandma Cheryl's Birthday at the beginning of the month - out to dinner and cake with the Derbys that were in town.  Samara loved sitting by one of her favs, Aunt Bree, at dinner.  We had our last bible study for the school year and will get together over the summer socially to stay in touch until fall.  Mother's Day was mid-month and Jeff and the kiddos got me a gift certificate to get a prenatal massage (I may have hinted that this would be a desirable gift.) :) I will have to see when I can get that scheduled for sure!
I had my 20 week ultrasound and midwife appointment on the 12th.  All looks good-yay!  We closed our eyes in order to keep the baby's gender a surprise.  So, we will be taking a list of names for boys and girls to the hospital with us again.  We are still on track to keep the Sept. 23rd due date and baby and I are both healthy, such a blessing and relief for sure.  In recent months and days we've heard stories of people really struggling with pregnancies, both lost and difficult, newborn health issues and losses in families.  It can be so easy to think your day is tough, but stopping to celebrate all the real blessings in life on a daily basis is so important!
Jeff has been working like crazy to get tasks done on the house on Boyd.  The weeks seem to slip by so quickly, and there is progress, but always more to do.  We are now to drywall and cabinets and then onto more final steps in the process - painting, trim work, flooring, final electrical and light fixtures, and on and on.  We decided that there had to be a goal in order to get this house done and on the market.  So, Jeff self-imposed an 8-week schedule and timeline starting June 1st  - that puts us at the end of July to get it ready to go on the market. He will be burning the candle at both ends to get it done, but he has done a great job so far!  The house is a complete transformation, inside and out really.
Jeff took time to enjoy a manly weekend of camping with his brother and brother-in-laws over Memorial weekend!  He so deserved the break to just hang out, shoot guns, relax and set things on fire - you know, typical guy camping stuff I guess.  They had fun up north on his brother-in-law, Nick's, family property then came home and went out a day later to camp near Lincoln with the guys again, adding another brother-in-law, Nick B., this time.  The Derby girls (Michelle, Laura and I) took advantage of the guys being occupied and Grandpa and Grandma willing to watch the four kids and went to dinner and a movie!  We ate dinner and dessert at Olive Garden - actually able to converse the whole time in peace - walked a bit at Village Pointe, then saw a movie "Age of Adeline".  It was so nice to spend some time together since we're all now spread out from Grand Island to Oklahoma.  I've known them for 18 years now, which is crazy!
We wrapped up the month with some extra time with Pennell extended family.  Grandpa and Grandma were here from SLC so we had dinner on Memorial Day at Karre's with everyone.  Then we had lunch at my parents two days later with Grandpa and Grandma and Grandma and Poppy.  We are so thankful to have family that can still all have get togethers at eachother's homes when everyone is in town.

Samara's Month:

• Samara had a fun last couple weeks of preschool - a trip to Gifford Farms, a potluck picnic on her last day and even a "Graduation" that evening.  She is looking forward to going to preschool all day next year on Tues and Thurs and Friday mornings where they do music and cooking!
• She loved helping plan and get ready for Noah's "baby party" as she called it.  The day of she thoroughly enjoyed saying hi to everyone and playing with the other kids at the shower.
• We hit a rough patch at the end of the month with Samara though.  She kicked her tantrum tendencies back into high gear after a busy week and getting to staying up extra late one night with family in town.  This resulted in an ugly scene on the way home which involved her throwing things at Mommy, unbuckling her seat belt in the car, etc. Needless to say, after stopping twice to re-buckle the angry (to say the least) kid back in to her car seat, I was DONE by the time we got home.  Thankfully Jeff was home when we got there and he took over!  She had to just be in her room as there was no reasoning with her.  Her consequences were laid out the next day in order that she would know despite being tired, her actions and attitude were not okay.  She went nearly a week before it happened again - starting at Home Depot nonetheless.  We hope this is not a preview to her teen years and are taking time to consider what is causing this - just tiredness, lack of one-on-one attention, something else?  We are taking time to consider any changes we need to make in order to remedy the issue better.
• After seeing a video that Daddy showed the kids, Samara was explaining to Kalum how the dinosaurs died.  "An earthsteroid crashed into Earth.  Some dinosaurs died then and some didn't."  Talking about dinosaurs has now become an obsession with both kids, talking about their demise daily and acting like dinosaurs in their playtime.

Kalum's Month:

• At the lunch table one day he said he wished he was a grown up.  I said, "You do? Why?" He said, "Cuz then I can do bible study."  At first you think, wow, what a Godly child we are raising!  Maybe I should pat myself on the back!  Then you realize he knows that's where the best snacks are offered on those evenings - in the room with the grown-ups!
• He now insists on choosing what he will wear.  Only "cool" shirts (his term) can be worn.  As in, "How about this shirt today Kalum?" "No.  That's not a cool shirt."   Then he digs for just the right look - usually it must have cars or flames or something of the like on it.
• We started potty training at the end of the month with Kalum - right to big boy underwear (for the most part).  We figured if he can be dry for hours at a time, now might as well be the time.  Stay posted for the updates I guess, we gotta get this guy out of diapers before he becomes a big brother!

That's a wrap on May - June and summer are here now!

April 2015

April - Easter, Samara school "spirit week", Amanda -tour weekend and business trip to FL, drywall starts at Boyd St. house, Uncle Tom here for a visit, started process for an LLC and Baby Buelt arrives! 

We enjoyed lots of Easter festivities and family fun - Attended our church service on Saturday with Jeff's parents then went out to eat dinner.  Easter morning we went to Pennell's for an Easter egg hunt and lunch.  Then we celebrated cousin Evelyn Holmberg's first birthday at Derby's the weekend after Easter, which included an egg hunt for the little ones!  The kids enjoyed seeing and playing with their two Derby cousins and having the whole Derby clan together is always a good time!  Amanda had to go out of town for four days to Fort Lauderdale for work.  I know this sounds like, oh, poor Amanda, but really we didn't see that much of Florida, with meetings all day each day.  But, it was still nice to have a break, especially after all the tour planning was done and the event was a success.  We got to see Amanda's Uncle Tom briefly while he was here, as he came to help with getting Poppy and Grandma settled in their apartment and sort through items still at their house. 

Samara had a fun week at school that week-getting to wear her favorite character outfit (able to wear Halloween costume again!) and her purple class color shirt to eat purple snacks.  She really enjoys her preschool and we've decided that next year she'll be in preschool again, all day Tuesday, Thursday and half day on Friday.  Since her birthday is close to the cutoff to go to preschool, she might have been ready, but we opted for the benefits that another year of preschool will provide her.  She, Daddy and Kalum also caught a baby bunny in our backyard and decided to bring it inside and give it a temporary home in a cage in the kitchen.  Mommy gets pictures on her phone while out of town of the kids grinning ear to ear with their Honey-Bunny, as they named it.  We'll see how long it lasts, they've been told it won't be staying for too long.

Boyd Street house is into the drywall phase and we had a drywall subcontractor complete the majority of that work.  Soon it will time for priming, painting, trim work and flooring.  At least this stage of renovation feels more like progress than fixing foundation issues and running electrical work!  Jeff and I filed for an LLC so that all the work and home sale will be correctly under a business name - watch for more details on that later.  We're planning to sell the house this summer and then more attention can be given to the Fir Street rental house before Baby #3 arrives around September 23rd!

Last, but not least, late on April 27th we got the news that Baby Buelt, as we've been calling their baby the last six months, had arrived.  Now we can call HIM Noah!  We are so excited for our first nephew and for Nick and Courtney as they became parents to their little one.  We're glad they are in town so the kids will get to see a lot of each other!  Congrats, Buelts on your little boy, Noah John!

Samara's April Moments:

•  She had candy from an Easter egg hunt at school, so was opening eggs and hiding treats under some of them on the table.  I was to guess which ones had candy under them.  If I guessed right, I got to tickle her back (Samara wins) and if I guessed an empty one I didn't have to (Mommy wins).  With the lighting from behind I was consistently choosing the empty ones.  She remarked how I wasn't very good at guessing today.  I said, "Let's change the rules.  How about if I guess right, I get what's under the egg?"  She said ok, close your eyes so I can get them ready.  I hear her removing ALL candy from the eggs and returning to the bag.  Apparently my risk of guessing right and having any of her candy was too great!
• At Gemma's mid-month Gemma had to rinse off her finger where she had dirt and a possible cut/splinter from digging out in the yard.  Samara says to Gemma, "My head feels funny."  Gemma said she was white and then her eyes rolled back and down she went.  Thankfully Gemma had started having her sit down - sheesh!
• Kids are listening whether or not you think they are... Auntie Courtney and Nick were watching Samara for an overnight before Baby Buelt arrived.  Samara started singing the Controlled Comfort radio jingle, including phone number in Courtney's car.  She sang it all the way through and Courtney said she even got the number right!
• She had a great dental check-up!  No cavities and she loved the whole thing so much that even Kalum wanted to have a check-up just like her.

Kalum's April Moments:

•  I didn't have that many funny things recorded for Kalum this month - not for lack of them happening!  He just says and does funny things intermittently every day.  :)
• He got a cold this month - no fun!  But he did learn to blow his nose - yay! (just trying to find a silver lining)
• He is growing like a weed!  His shirts are getting short along with his pants.  Time for warmer weather before he ends up in high waters!
• We have started potty training some and I think by this summer he'll be getting there.  The goal would be similar to when he was born, one in diapers at a time please!!
• Kalum turned two and half on April 30th -such a big boy!

Well, I think that is April - May is here now, crazy!!

March 2015

February was full and March was still kind of madness!  Jeff was still trying to get things accomplished on both houses, moving into electrical and HVAC (some work was subbed out) at Boyd St.  My work was still busy with several training meetings, Hockey Night, tour planning, monthly meeting and home show set-up.  I had two MOPS meeting and we had a fun night where we painted flowers on canvases.  We had our 12-week midwife appointment for baby #3 and so far all is well-we heard the heartbeat!  There were even some nice days where the kids loved getting to be outside and go to the park or for a walk.  Bring on Spring!!

Samara's March Moments:

•  While playing one day, Samara was pretending to be the mommy and I had to be Samara.  She said "I'm tired and so I'm going to rest in bed."  I said, "Mommy, the laundry needs to be switched and the dishes done.  Sometimes the Mommy has to wait and rest if there's time after the work is done."  She says, "Not this Momma!" and rolled over under the covers in my bed.
• I was singing a verse from the kids' bible based cd set-very catchy tunes!  The were singing, "do not be overcome, do not be overcome by evil.  But overcome evil with good."  After I sang it, Samara said, "Sing it again."  I did and then she goes "Oh, I thought it was floppy overcome floppy overcome by evil" and bursts out laughing while singing her interpretation around the room.
• We had a cat show up out of the street sewer towards the end of the month.  It showed up two evenings in a row.  It was SUPER friendly and obviously hungry and thirsty tonight-we set out some water and a little lunch meat.  The kids were in love.  Jeff and I knew it had to belong to someone with how nice it was, so I checked the neighborhood facebook page.  Sure enough someone was looking for a similar sounding cat.  We explained that the kitty's family had probably been missing her so much and would be so happy we found her.  I called and they drove over from the other end of the neighborhood next to ours and were so relieved to see their Lucy.  She purred nonstop in the mom's arms.  Samara gave kitty hugs and kisses, no tears.  Once they left she came inside and started sobbing.  I think she didn't believe me when I said the kitty was too friendly to not have a home.  It broke my heart, she was SO sad!

Kalum's March Moments:

•  Early this month we figured out why Kalum might have been waking up so much overnight - and wanting to tucked back in multiple times!  All four two year molars are now coming in.  He walks around pushing his fingers into his gums all day.
• He looks more grown up every day and talks in paragraphs, much like Samara did at his age.  His are just an octave lower and usually about cars, trucks or construction.  
• He'll put on his boy dress-up clothes while Samara wears hers.  He ends up posing as the suitor or hero for the princess quite often. :)
• The things he says!  Brushing his hair: "Look at me making myself handsome."  Running on sidewalk with bat and ball in hand: "Look at that guy running with the bat and ball.  He's running so fast!"  (then speeds up down the sidewalk)
• End of March I took Kalum into the doctor for a possible ear infection after a few nights of waking up a lot and 100 degree fever.  Turns out he had an ear infection and it had perforated.  Poor kid-teething then an ear infection in one month!  He never even cried or said his ear hurt.  So, ear drops then antibiotic and we'll hope he's back to normal.

February 2015

February was another month filled with activity - preschool, Super Bowl watching, MOPS, church small group, etc. NARI work for me - tour planning, Education Day, event at the Omaha Community Playhouse, home show and a trip to Dallas for two days for a meeting.  Courtney and I got to attend the Women's Conference at CCC that was one Friday night and Saturday, too.  Jeff filled his schedule with NIFCO, continuing work in Ashland and being Daddy like always.  Samara and Kalum found out, along with our families mid-month that we have another baby on the way!  September 23rd is the due date and as of the first visit with the midwife, all looked good.  This is a planned baby, but reality still sets in that we are going to have three kiddos and we have to contemplate if there are changes we need to make in our schedules to make it all work out.  Time will tell I guess, but Baby #3 is the most exciting news this month!

Samara's Month:

• Her Jesus Loves You party at school was much anticipated!  She picked out a glow stick valentine and she wrote her name on all 18 valentines!!  Loved putting one in each friends' bag.
• Had sore, swollen throat and a fever for just two days, mild rash the next day, then it was gone.  Maybe rosalea or something.  No Dr. appointment needed and no school missed, besides Sunday school.
• Samara is so excited and said she can't wait until our baby is born!  She explained that if it was a girl there will be more girls in our house and if a boy there will be more boys in our house.  So perceptive!

Kalum's Month:

•  He went with Daddy to Great Clips due to the situation with Mommy last month.  It was a proud Daddy success!  Looks like Daddy will be taking him from now on it looks like.
• Kalum wants to go to preschool with Samara so badly!  For the Valentine's Day party, we got to come back at the end of class to see them sing some songs and go through their valentine's.  Kalum sat down in the circle with all the kids.  He raised his hands up to each bag as the teacher handed them out, then had the saddest most disappointed face ever and said, "I want a bag."  The teacher took pity on the biggest, pouty lip ever and gave him an extra pack of fruit snacks.  Disaster averted!
• He narrates entire plots while playing.  Says things like, "actually" correctly in sentences.  Recognizes matching items.  Knows essentially all cars, trucks and construction equipment by name.  He even saw a while garbage truck and said "look at the white garbage truck!  Our garbage truck is diffwent color."  He is starting to join in on our meal prayers and imitate songs now too.
• Had an ear infection mid February.
• Kalum had a finger in his mouth at bedtime and said, "what is that?"  I said it was a new tooth and he asked me to get it out. :)
• He insists because he is a boy that he has a baby boy in his tummy!
• At my chiropractor appointment, Kalum walks in and says, "I smell something in here.  Something like a berry thing."  That was the first time he said he smelled something and they had just used a scented cleaner.

January 2015

Happy New Year!!  So, after the nice December, we hit the usual wall of craziness in January!  NARI hired an Assistant so I started training her so that she can assist me and take over some of my tasks and hours. It's always hard to train and keep up with your normal work as well, but it will be worth it!  Both MOPS and Preschool started back up and so did NARI meetings - board, tour and general meeting.  We celebrated our birthdays with Derby's at Lazlos then had our usual Winter Birthday celebration with Pennell's at our house.  We also started going through stuff at the Fir St. house in Ashland, which proved to be a VERY laborious task.  In the end, we found no big treasures, mainly lots of old junk and papers.  Many dumpsters were filled, but we got it all out so that some cleaning up, repairs and space planning could be done.  After taking most of the month to work at Fir St., Boyd St. will need some attention starting again in February.  That was about it this month...not that all that is nothing much!

Samara's first month of 2015:

• Kids are jumping on top of cushion on top of Daddy.  Jeff said, "Kalum, why do you feel heavier than Samara?" Samara replied, "Because he has big ears!" ha!
• Her comeback this month to being told she wasn't going to do something or didn't like what you said... "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party!"  When Jeff said he would take her gift back then, she wasn't so sure and re-invited him.  When I told her no mommy means no party, I was quickly added back to the guest list.
• When she is scolded for something she says, "When I'm a mom and I have kids, I'm never going to say that to my child."  Okay - let me know how that goes for ya!
• She is becoming a very helpful big sister, even helped Kalum put on his shirt and pants to get ready one morning.

Kalum's first month of 2015:

• Pushed back from the table in his booster seat.  He bumped his head, bit his tongue and hit foot on table.  It scared him and left a bump on his head but otherwise okay.  He may think twice before hastily being done with dinner next time.
• He is like a parrot, quoting nearly every word after Samara says it.
• Mid January - 3rd day in a row with no sleeping at nap time, then early to bed again.  Maybe this is the new norm?  We are working to enforce rest time at least in the afternoon for him while Samara has her rest time.  Mom needs some time to get work done!
• He now cracks himself up!  He will tell you something that he knows is silly and can barely make it through the sentence because he throws his back and starts laughing at his own silliness and creativity.
• His first reaction currently to something not going his way is to hit.  Often it is because Samara has taken a toy from him.  He learned not to hit Mommy after it caused a time out in his room. Now he'll just raise his hand then stop an start crying and dancing around instead.
• Riding his bike on the sidewalk in front of our house one day when I said he should turn around.  He yelled, "Nuff talk!" back to me and kept going.  Eventually did come back our way and agree to go inside.  Are we two, you think?!
• He thinks my eyelash curler looks like a motorcycle.  He holds it and "vrooms" it along the drawer.  He had it in his hand and I cautioned him to be careful, only Mommy uses it.  He said, "When I'm big, I will have a motorcycle and I be careful."  So funny!  Anyone else would assume he was talking about a real motorcycle, but he is talking about an eyelash curler! 
• End of the month, we decided to give potty training a try...it won't be complete this month it seems, but worth a try.
• He needed a haircut so I took him to close place that had a coupon.  He was all about it, then as soon as it was his turn he totally balked.  We left and he cried all the way home about how his hair was too long and he needed it cut.  I went back and he did the same thing - last chance buddy!  This will be a Daddy-son venture going forward! 

December 2014 - Merry Christmas!

December is here - full of holiday festivities, Christmas events, working on the house in Ashland (and buying another!) and fun with the kids.  We had holiday parties for NARI and NIFCO, a Christmas meeting for MOPS including our last craft of 2014 and Amanda's MOPS table Christmas party.  Samara had a Preschool Christmas program, we went to a Christmas family dinner at Grandma Derby's place - they had music and Santa came by for a visit.  For Christmas we got to celebrate with both sides of our family over the Christmas weekend, one of the blessings of living close to family.  We spent some time with the Derby's on Christmas Eve then went to Pennell's on Christmas morning after our own Christmas stocking opening at home.  We celebrated Christmas with all of the Derby clan on Saturday after Christmas then had Pennell extended Christmas on Sunday.  Lots of time with family, sharing good food, exchanging gifts and making memories!  We also had the opportunity come up to purchase a second house in Ashland and we decided to do so.  The house doesn't require as much work as the Boyd St. house, but it is FULL of stuff and junk.  We bought it as-is and so it will be our task to empty it out.  We may have to take some time off of the work on Boyd St. in order to get the Fir St. house cleaned out, but haven't determined the exact plan on that.  So, overall, it was a great month of slowing down a bit to enjoy some holiday fun and purchasing our 3rd house!  :)

Samara's December:

• Derby's watched kids while we went to our bible study.  When we got back, Samara had Cheryl's smartphone in hand.  She was touching buttons and talking away.  She brought it over and held it up with some image of a toy from Toys R Us website.  "Do you want this for Christmas?" she asked me.  So funny - she knows how to  work the phone and she can't even read yet!
• After a discussion a few days ago that we marry people who are not in our family, here was our discussion after preschool today.
• S: "I'm going to marry Gabe [boy in her class] when I'm ten."
• Me: "Really, ten, that's young, maybe more like 20 or 25?  And why Gabe?"
• S: "Do people get married when they're 10?"
• Me: "Not usually, 20 or 25 is better."
• S: "Or even 20-10.  Ok, well I'm going to marry Gabe when I'm 20-10.  He said we are not, but I told him we are getting married when we are older no matter what he says"
• Good grief girl - 4 going on 22!  Daddy had a few things to say about that when he got home, including the need to ask Daddy first before getting married. :)

• Walking out of Kohl's she tells a man outside we are going to hear people sing on stage for Christmas.  He remarks that's nice, etc.  Then Samara goes on to ask him [he was outside and had just finished a smoke break] if he has ever tried smoking.  He said yes he had.  Looking back over her shoulder she says, "You know that will turn your lungs black!"  He says, "Really, I didn't know that."  At least he was a friendly older gentleman.
• One day at school, Samara told her teacher that someone's relative had been executed.  Really they had just passed away, but she thought the word executed meant gone forever.  After her teacher told me the story, just so I was aware, I asked her where she had heard that word.  She said, "Wreck It Ralph" [Disney movie] "The glitch says it at the end when she becomes queen." Oh boy, had to explain that we don't know anyone who has been executed because it's a very mean thing.  Then let her teacher know where it came from, she laughed as much as we did (with Samara not there, of course).
• Kids are watching a movie and Samara is getting annoyed that Kalum is constantly asking questions.  She tells him to stop asking questions because she's trying to watch.  This is from the queen of asking questions while watching movies!!

Kalum's December:

• Early December he got all of the colors of the rainbow and can identify.  He's getting shapes down and knows lots of animals and their sounds.
• Mid-December we were in a discussion about Jesus and how he came to the world to take away our sins.  Kalum listens then a couple minutes later he asks, "Where my sins go?" Haha!  They're always listening and he likes to understand how things work.
• End of December - Not exactly sure how long he has been able to, but noticed he can go downstairs without the railing.  He usually holds on anyway though.

Get ready for Happy New Year - 2015!!