Keeping up with Kevin

Kevin loves his dump truck!

Oh, they're so cuddly!!! Mmm! Papa makes yummy orange julius!

What's he doing now?

Kevin loves to look at truck magazines for some odd reason.

Big Brother

Baby number two is on its way!!! Kevin gets to be a big brother. Our baby is due July 18th!

9 Weeks

How your baby's growing:Your new resident is nearly an inch long and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Tag Teaser

Sharon tagged me so I guess that means I'm it. This is what I'm supposed to do:

"Pass this on to 5 blogging friends. Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that."

Well, the closest book to me would be The Anatomy of Hymnody by Austin C. Lovelace.

Page 56, sentence 5 and some states:

"In much the same way that 76.76.D. is created by dropping one syllable from lines one and three of CM, 87.87. is created by adding one syllable to lines two and four. Like its sister form, it is gentler and less virile than CM because of its falling, yielding cadence and double syllable rhyming. It has been used sparsely. Note the rhymes: never-ever, leadeth-feedeth, sought me-brought me, beside me-guide me, never-ever. The result is one of sweetness rather than strength."

So, Sharon,... why did I just do that?

I'm afraid I lack the inclination to tag my friends simply because I have some chores to finish. Kind of a neat exercise I guess.

Constantly Cute

Us Update

How do you like Kevin's new bathtub? It works pretty well, but Kevin sure doesn't know what to think of it! Let's just say that his baths now start out a little rough. What else do you use when you don't have a bathtub? Once he gets used to the idea that this is a bath, then we have a good time!

Mmm! Fresh jammies and clean teeth! All ready for a good night's sleep!

Yes, it has been a while since my last post - Kevin's birthday actually, but to fill you all in, we are now living in the downstairs portion of the "cottage." I will have to post some pictures of what it is like a bit later. Getting settled along with very patchy internet service at present has kept me away from the blog world. We are learning to like living down here a lot - although I do still miss our cozy cove and will enjoy reminiscing over our first year and a half of life up there. It has been a blessing having the extra space for Kevin to roam around, and I actually have a REAL kitchen/dining room!!! Not to mention cupboard doors! Hee!

Our Baby Boy's Birthday!

"Happy birthday, dear Kevin. Happy birthday to you!" Today our little man turned a year old! What a blessing he has been in our lives! He has been taking many steps lately and today he just decided to take off! How fast he has been growing! It brings tears to my eyes to think about how much I love my little boy, and to think about the joy he has brought to us. Kevin has been such a reminder of God's grace from the day we brought him home from the hospital. Thank you, Father, for placing Kevin Charles under our care.

Morning Milk

Morning bottles are always a favorite! They are such a great way to start the day!

Tea Time

This is me wishing that all of you, my dear friends, could come and have a cup of Honey Darjeeling with me! Kevin is napping, the rain is pitter-pattering on my roof top, and I am enjoying the quiet noise.

Pampered Chef Party

The "amazing" Pampered Chef proctor

We had eleven guests

My lovely Mama

My dear sister

This last Thursday I hosted a Pampered Chef party for my aunt. It was so fun to have every one over! My family came up for it, and my dad took the boys fishing while we ladies enjoyed a cooking show. Christa was even able to be there! That was a nice surprise. You can visit her blog to see her take on the Pampered Chef party. Unfortunately I didn't take enough pictures of the weekend, but we really did have a wonderful time. My family even stayed for our church bon-fire the next night!

"Sneakers" & Shoelaces

Every once in a while Kevin will occuppy himself by finding things that are complicated and will try so hard to figure them out. Smart little fellow! This time he decided to pull a shoe out of his cupboard and tried to untie it. He didn't know I was watching him! That was fun. He has also been learning how to say please in sign language and has just been starting to use it. How amazing it has been to watch him learn things!

Easy Eating

Focusing!

Kevin was trying to be so big using a plate and a spoon all by himself!

Pj Poses

Kevin was just being cute!

He loves to crawl up to me, pull on my pants or skirt to stand himself up, and either laugh because he's being silly or whine because he wants something. He makes me laugh.

Cute Catcher

He wouldn't sit still for very long when the camera was right there to try and get a hold of, but Kevin is doing so well at playing catch. He gets a jolly out of grabbing the ball when I toss it in his lap and then trying to get it back to me by his patented toss'n' kick;o) What a silly!

Dumping Day

Yes, this is my man driving his big red beast - the dump truck!

This is the stick of far too many gears in all of its brilliance!

These are the levers that make the box go up and down for dumping. I know, - pretty impressive!

He was so sweet and called to see if I would like to go with him on a scrap metal run to Marshall! We dropped Kevin off at the folks' house and had such a lovely time running our random little errands. He took me out for lunch and then we came back only to turn around and go to Wilmar to pick up one of the trucks. Since he bought me lunch, I bought him ice cream on the way home. A little redundant seeing as it all comes out of the same pocket, but it made me feel like I was buying him something fun;o) Thanks for the fun day Streblow! I love you! You're my absolute favorite!!!

My Men

Seth let Kevin drive the lawn mower for a little while.

Aww, there go my boys!

Outside AND Papa! How exciting!

Truck Tackle

Kevin and I walked over to the shop on Saturday afternoon to see what the guys were up to. Caleb Siefkes came up to give Seth a hand in the shop. So, how many guys does it take to wash a semi tractor? I found it a little comical to watch them all buzzing around working on the same truck, but truly that is such an efficient way to do it - until the guy spraying down the truck realizes that the guy that was brushing the truck has continued to brush the side of the truck that you just rinsed;o)

Curtain Countdown

Still working on it. Now I'm about to get to the fun part! Lots and lots of swirls!

Kevin in the Kitchen

This is one of Kevin's favorite things to do when I'm trying to get something done in the kitchen. Since I have the "luxury" (truly it is nice to be able to find something just by looking at it!) of not having cupboard doors, the kitchen is just one big giant toy box for a ten and a half month old. It is especially fun when you bang things together;o) Although at times it can be irritating to keep on finding yet another frying pan in between your feet, I really do enjoy having him there with me. It's nice to know he likes having my company as much as I like having his.

Stocking up Stew

Canned beef stew! I made a whole big roaster pan full of beef stew and decided to can the rest for a quick and easy meal. It was fun to do so I thought I'd blog about it.

Mini-Mohawk

Aunt Doh Doh decided to give Kevin this crazy doo after his bath! He looked so cute!

I had to put this picture in just so you know that this is how he normally looks;o)

I think the poor guy was getting chilly and didn't like the fact that I was trying to get a good angle of his hair. He kept following the camera so I couldn't get a good side shot. He kind of looks like a modern day rock star with that scowl on his face (perish the thought!).[For more pictures of Kevin click here] Kevin and I were blessed to be able to go and visit my sister, Christa (lovingly known as Aunt Doh Doh) this past week. She has been struggling with morning -or all day- sickness since the beginning of her pregnancy so Kevin and I went down to try and lift her spirits a little. It was nice to be able to spend time with her and engage in our old sister conversations that unfortunately have become circumstantially scarce these days. Dan has been such a good husband to Christa, and it was so neat to see him "love and cherish her in sickness..." Speaking of husbands, Seth surprised me by showing up at home on Thursday! We headed home Thursday around 1:00 from Owatonna and the little sneak decided not to tell me that he was back in Granite by 2:00, so I stopped at my Aunt's house in New Ulm, which was on the way, to pick up something from her and she invited us to stay for supper. In the end, we arrived back home at 8:30, and as soon as I turned the key off I saw a truck with a bunch of lights all over it turn into our driveway. It couldn't be Seth could it? It's only Thursday! Then the strobe started flashing and I knew that, of course, it was my husband! What a pleasant surprise!

Papa Playtime

Kevin enjoyed his books on the long ride to Fargo.

This was the water park in our hotel at Casselton. Usually there is water shooting up and out all over.

This is the other portion of the water park. The water slide was pretty fun.

Kevin loves spending time with his Papa. It is always such a special treat for him!

Yes, we did have a good time up in Fargo (actually Casselton which is about 20 miles from Fargo). Kevin and I kept each other company at the hotel while Seth and Kasey were busy working. Tuesday it was too wet and rainy for the guys to get a whole lot done, so they took the afternoon off! Kasey's girlfriend and their cute little boy, Jackson came up for a little while and we all went swimming Tuesday afternoon. It was fun to watch Kevin in the water. There was a small blue ball floating in the water that he claimed almost the whole time! Seth decided to take Kevin down the little kiddie tube slide. It started out fun, but when they got to the bottom, poor little Kevin went momentarily under the water, and he decided that water slides are not any fun! He was so cute though. His misery was soon ended though because playing in the water is so much fun. All in all it was just good to have the three of us all together for a whole week! Kevin really had fun playing with his Papa this weekend especially. When we came down the driveway he immediately recognized that we were back home, and was so excited! Now Kevin and I are back home anxiously awaiting Papa's return.