"Who hears these words of mine & puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, & the winds blew & beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine & does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, & the winds blew & beat against that house, & it fell with a great crash."

Matthew 7:24-27

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Kyler's Birthday Parties

We had two birthday parties for Kyler.  The first one we had was the Saturday right after his actual birthday.  We invited just family to this party.  Two of my cousins live close by and have always invited my extended family to their kids' parties, so we always include my extended family and Erik's immediate family for this party.  It was a great evening!  We had about 25 people come to help Kyler celebrate turning 3.  The weather was kind of cool and rainy, but we still were able to have fun. :)  We started the party with a dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, fruit, chips and relishes.  After dinner we all hung out for a while, and then Kyler opened presents.  After presents, we had cake and ice cream.  Both of our parents were the last guests to leave, and I think they left around 8:30 or 9:00.  We were even lucky enough to have our friend Lauren stop by, who was back from Des Moines for the weekend! :)  We are so blessed to have our families so close and they blessed Kyler very much by benign here to share his special day and by the gifts they brought for him.  Here are some pictures from the first party!

Train Cake!!

Henry and Geneva! (Geneva babysat me after I was born!) 

Most of the kids! 

Opening presents :)  Cars guys! 

Still opening presents :) 

Deciding what to open next...

The "crowd" :)

My two Uncles working on Kyler's remote control dump truck :)

Kyler's rubber band riffle :)  Made by Henry!!

Blowing out his candles! (Funny story...we had a box of candles, frosting, etc. from my parent's house, and so Erik just grabbed 3 candles out of a box...come to find out they were trick candles) :)

Birthday boy enjoying his cake!



Birthday Party #2
We had a "kid" party for Kyler the Friday after his "family" party.  We haven't quite gotten to the stage of inviting 8 or 10 friends over, but Kyler does have some friends he enjoys to play with, so we invited a couple families over for the evening.  The Reisetters and the Williams' came over to our house to help Kyler celebrate with his friends.  We had a yummy meal of homemade pizza, salad, fruit, and chips when everyone first got there.  After dinner, all the kids wanted to play outside, so they headed out to the back yard for a while.  After playing for a bit, we all came back in and Kyler opened presents and then we enjoyed some cake and ice cream.  We are so thankful for the buddies and the families that Kyler has and loves to play with.  We appreciate you coming over and  helping Kyler celebrate turning 3!  Here are some pictures from the "kid" party! :)

Ahnie and Norah waiting to eat!

Brett and the Kids :)

Kyler and Jillian enjoying their pizza!

Playing outside...

Mason heading down the slide :)

Opening presents...

Tow Mater!

And an Ant Farm!!

We are so grateful for everyone who helped celebrate Kyler's 3rd birthday!!  Thanks again!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Kyler's Birthday!

Kyler's actual birthday fell on a Thursday this year.  Erik had been looking at the Twins baseball schedule earlier this spring, and thought it would be fun to take him to a Twins game on his birthday since they had a home game at noon on that day!  So, we got up early, loaded up in the truck, and took off for Target Field at about 8:00 am.  Norah and I almost didn't go, as she had had a runny nose and hadn't been feeling very good and hadn't slept well for the past week.  But, at the last minute, we decided to just go, and I'm so glad we did because she slept the best she had in a week.  We got to Target field at about 11:45, and ate a quick lunch (that we had brought with us) and then headed into the game.  Our seats were on the first level right past the 3rd base line, they were great.  It was a bit chilly as we were in the shade, but it was fine, it was a beautiful day out!  Norah got a bit ancy and I had to take her out for a while, but then after we came back she fell asleep.  Kyler did great and sat with Erik the whole game.  The game itself was good, the Twins were behind in the beginning but then came back at the end and won the game!  We actually left right before the last inning because we had already been there for 3 1/2 hours, but it was a great game.  If you ask Kyler how the baseball game was, this is his answer, "There were fireworks but no horses!".  This is because if you remember this post, Kyler went to a game last fall with Erik and Erik's dad.  At the game, they had the Budwiser Clydesdales and so Kyler was expecting that they would be there again....he was a little disappointed. :)  Here are some pictures from the game:

Us at the game!

Right outside the stadium :)

After we left the game, we just headed home.  The kids both fell asleep not that long after we got in the car, so that was great.  We made a quick stop at the outlet mall (by my request) :) on the way home, and then stopped for dinner at Culver's.  We made it home about 8:00, it was a long, but fun day!

When we got home, I realized I hadn't really wrapped any of Kyler's birthday presents (oops!) :).  So I quick wrapped a couple of them so he could open something on his "real" birthday. :)

Opening presents 

Some Thomas Train Track! 

Next present...

A baseball tee!! 

He waisted no time setting up the track :) 

Had to swing his bat too :)

Kyler still had a few more presents to open on Friday, so we opened those up Friday evening after dinner.

Smiling with his presents

Percy! 

It's a.... 

backpack!! :)

And a Lightning McQueen tent! :)

We had a great time celebrating Kyler turning 3!  What a blessing he has been to our family the past three years!!!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Kyler is 3!!

Our big man Kyler turned 3 years old on April 12th!  I cannot believe he is already 3!!  Kyler is such a fun little guy.  He is really into trains right now.  He got trains from two different "sets" for his birthday and he loves to play with both of them.  Usually they are all lined up on the couch or on the table watching him eat a meal. :)  Kyler still loves to watch any type of big machines.  Whenever we are driving somewhere and he will see one he always yells out, "there's an excavator!!  there's a dump truck!!" or whatever kind of machine it is-and yes, he knows all the names. :)  I'm so glad there will be more road construction near us this summer so we can walk and go see all the big machines. :)  Kyler also enjoys playing sports.  Basketball, baseball, and football are probably his favorite.  It is not a surprise to come over and find him playing catch in the house (which is going to have to end soon because he has such a good arm!) or trying to hit a baseball with a small bat and yelling "home run" as he runs around the house. :)  Kyler still has a love for being outside and playing in his sandbox.  He could spend hours outside playing catch, hitting a baseball, or digging in his sandbox.  I think he could spend his whole day in the sandbox digging, dumping, and pouring if we let him! 

At Kyler's 3 year check-up, he weighed 28 pounds and was 37 inches tall-still long and skinny!  No wonder I have a hard time finding pants that stay up on him....thank goodness for adjustable waists!! :)  Kyler got his 2 year molars last summer, so he doesn't have any new teeth right now.  Overall Kyler is a pretty good eater and will eat most anything.  He's not a huge fan of lots of things mixed together, like in a casserole, but he eats very well.  Sometimes he sits at the table for quite a while though, simply because he has sat and talked throughout dinner and not eaten anything, so then we are all done, and he's still eating. :)  Kyler has an amazing memory and can count from 1-12 or 13, and then make it to 20 (with a little help in between). :)  He also very good with his colors, this is something we worked on for a while, but in the last few months he has these down very well.  We are still working on letters and numbers.  With regards to his memory, Kyler knows all the names of his trains and Cars 2 cars he has (which totals somewhere around 30ish?).  He is also starting to express things he remembers, for example he will tell me, "last night I went to Fareway with Daddy and got some worms".  The other thing he does is use "last night" for anything that happened in the past, even if it just happened this morning. :)  Kyler has also figured out the use of "me" and "you", the only phrase he still uses "you" for himself, is when he wants you to pick him up, he still says "carry you", when he really means "carry me".    

It is so fun to watch Kyler with Norah.  He loves her so much, and their relationship is really starting to develop.  He is always concerned about where she is it, and knows where she is at all times.  It is funny to watch him start to talk to her, for example when they were sitting at the table this morning at breakfast, he turns and says to her, "watch this Miss" and then proceeds to make a funny face.  He also will say "come in here Miss" because he wants her to come into the play room and play with him.  If she doesn't come, then he asks me to bring her in there for him. :)  

Kyler still isn't potty trained.  That is something we will need to work on here soon.  He hasn't really had any interest in even sitting on the potty until the last few months.  Now there are at least times when he will answer "yes" to the question, "do you want to sit on the potty?".  Most of the time he will sit on there before he gets in the bath.  He has gone in the potty several times, but nothing consistent.  He will tell us when he's going potty or after he has gone, or after he's gone poop.  I think he just doesn't want to take the time to go in there and sit, he's too busy doing other things. :)  

Kyler, buddy, you are such a joy to have in our lives!  You make us smile every day with the things you say and do.  You are becoming such a fun little person and we love to see your personality come out more and more.  We hope you had a great 3rd birthday!  Love, Mom and Dad

Here are some pictures of Kyler!
3 Years Old!!!

Digging in the garden :)

Love the headband :)

Hi Mom!

We tried this "mess-free" finger painting...I think I did something wrong because the paint didn't spread very well...

All of his "guys" (aka: Cars vehicles) all lined up!

Our Big Man :)

Playing with homemade "moon sand" (flour and baby oil)

More guys lined up :)

Loving on Norah :)  (which she doesn't always appreciate) :)

And yes, he still loves to drum!!