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!!