Tea Time with the Tiny Tots

This is what goes on at our house sometime between 3pm and 4pm every afternoon. Snacks & juice for them. Espresso for mommy. I just want to squish their little faces when I seem them sitting up there like that. Squish, squish, squish. Love those two little blonde heads.

This is Leah teaching Jonah about the fine art of splashing in puddles. Yup, puddles in January in Missouri. I really don't miss the never ending blanket of snow and ice we were covered with all winter long living in Wisconsin, but I can't say I love the dreary gray of winter here either. Temps have been in the 40s and 50s this week which has gotten us outside and helped with that cabin fever. Seriously, between fighting with Leah, "sassiest mouth in the south" and being up all night with "toddler beds suck" Jonah it's been a rough two weeks!

The Monkey has Escaped!

So I knew the time was coming. I knew because over the Christmas holiday Jonah climbed out of the pack & play at Grandma Sally's and ran down stairs like he was hot stuff. I prayed that it'd be a whole lot longer before he figured out how to climb out of his crib, but today was the day. I carried him upstairs after lunch and did his normal nap time routine. He laid down and snuggled up to his trusty dinosaur and acted like he was going to sleep. Nighty night! About 5 minutes later I heard him hollering but figured I could wait to check him until I finished my lunch. I ate and he quieted down so I figured he'd decided to go to sleep. Nope, I head a "MA!" and there he was on the stairs. Guess he's moving to a toddler bed with a gate at the door now!

Made me think of how kids are so different from each other. Leah was a busy toddler like JOnah is but was never much of a climber. She was in her crib until she was two and never climbed out. I only moved her to a toddler bed because she loved her friends little beds so much and figured she'd have to move soon anyway since Jonah was on the way. Back then I had chairs in normal places too. Now chairs only make it to the table or the counter when it is time to sit on them. If we forget it's only moments before Jonah is standing on the counter!

I'm sure our monkey will be in trouble again. Stay tuned!

Wedding Video

Today is Paul & my 6th anniversary so I dug out the DVD of our wedding to watch. We have been reminded of our love & the beauty of the beach. We forgot how windy it was. We realize what a long 6 years it's been & how much we miss miss Paul's brothers Collier & Billy who celebrated with us that day but are no longer with us. We laughed over how much we & many of our guests have changed. The best part was the comedy of sharing the video with Leah.

"look mom, it's Grandpa Chicken on TV!!"

"mom, are you marrying grandpa??"

"grandma looks old, she must have had a birthday"

"when can I get married?"
"when you are a grown up & you find the right person that you love, Leah"
"I love Carter so I can marry him !"

We didn't do much to celebrate today but I hope we showed our kids that we love eachother & that we love them & that we love a good laugh!


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Christmas at Home

Every year we struggle with when to do our family Christmas. I usually try to convince Paul to do it on December 5 for St. Nick's Day but let's face it, I'm never done shopping by then! I'd love to do it right before we head up to Iowa but Paul has been gone the week before Christmas for work for the past 10 years! I'm hoping next year will be different. Depspite the confusion, I've managed to come up with a "traditional" dinner for us and we dressed up and at in the dining room which Leah thought was fabulous! Stuffed Mushrooms, Crab Cakes, Seared scallops, broccolli, & molten chocolate cake were on the menu. We opened our gifts afterward. Leah who had decided that "she HATES pants" was most excited about two new dresses and her cupcake set. Jonah decided that it was more fun to climb on the box than open it. It contained a basketball hoop that he was pretty excited about. He knew just what to do. (Maybe Grandpa Lee will get a basketball player yet!) It was a bit of crazy day and evening but fun to stretch out the celebrating!

Christmas in Pella

Christmas Day we braved nasty weather to make it from Mason City to Pella to be with the Luhrs side of the family. The entire trip was facilitated by iphone technology. I think I spent the entire car ride using my phone to check maps, weather, & check in with Abby & Ryan who were traveling the same route as we were. Our time in Pella was short and I forgot to take very many photos since there were lots of cameras floating around. Here are couple !

Christmas Morning!

Boy oh boy am I behind on blogging about Christmas and New Years and such. Anyway. These are from Christmas Morning at Grandpa Gene & Grandma Sally's house in Iowa. Leah was thrilled that Santa came. (Especially since Mom doesn't believe in Santa) Many thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for taking care of the details on that! Poor Jonah who got up at 5am the entire week of Christmas was NOT happy that he had to wait for sleepyhead Leah to wake up. And there were no bows left on the gifts by around 6:00. It was 7:30 before Leah rolled out of bed. I know it was because she was upstairs snuggling with her Paul. I wouldn't have wanted to come down either!