Iowa

Recently I took the kids on the Super Duper Grandparent tour of 2010. Both sets of granparents were within a few hours of each other so it was time to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Above is the church and parsonage where Grandpa K filled an interim position over the cosy winter months in Sully, Iowa. Sully is a lovely little town not too far from Des Moines.

The night we got there, we went to an auction/dinner/carnival fundraiser at the local Christian school. There everyone in town and neighboring countryside instantly knew who we were and very graciously welcomed us.

Even though there's not a lot to do in Sully, the kids had more fun than you'd ever believe.

Grandma K set up pop can bowling in the hallway.

The quickly melting snow outside was fun to play in as well.

The bus driver lives across the street. Seeing a bus is the biggest thrill for little Hudson.

Kaylee found some nice ice balls that were not very fun to be hit with.

Wearing grandma's shoes is more fun than anyone but Hudson would've guessed.

They borrowed some toys from the church's nursery and turned the big empty front room into a grandkid's wonderland.

But the kids favorite toy by far was Grandpa. He's much more fun to climb!

I'll make a post of the Minnesota part of this trip on another day...hopefully not too long from now! ;)

Floating to an Island

HA! Here I am again. Want to say hello to my most devoted fan - Heather - for hanging in there and checking here each and every day that I neglect to add anything new to this blog. And to my sister for her not so subtle hints.

Well here's a trip we took one weekend recently to the lovely San Juan Island called, strangely enough, San Juan. You see me below in a self portrait...am I talented or what.
We are on the Yakima. Someone tell Hudson that this is a life preserver... not the helm. You're not driving the boat buddy!

Jeff's version of a self portrait... maybe a little better than mine.

The real reason I couldn't do this post for so long. I just couldn't pick a favorite picture of Kaylee. I captured so many great moments. So I'm just going to throw them all on there.

See what I mean? How do you pick just one?!

For Hudson, it's not so difficult. He doesn't sit still for one second to take a picture. Most of the ones I have of him are blurry.

The view from the ferry looking back towards Mt Baker.

This is the place we go to on the south shore of San Juan Island. This beach has the best rocks. You look south towards the Olympic Mountains - all capped in snow. The sun was just too blinding that day, so I took a sidelong shot.A long way to go to throw some rocks!

Updates

It's been too long since I've shared some new happenings with the kids.

Let's start with Kaylee. She reminds us that "Daddy calls me 'bug' and Mommy calls me 'sweetheart'". She can be both, believe me!!

She has just started into the "Why" phase. Some days it gets to be annoying. I took up some advice from a friend of ours. Whenever I get annoyed and want the questions to end, I simply say "Because elephants have flat feet". You know what? It works! Only now when I say it Kaylee has to add in "And they're too big!" I can't remember why she started saying that, but you know what? It stops her "why" questions real fast!

Kaylee still loves to travel. It's gotten to the point now that we don't tell her we're going on a trip until we're about to leave. She is always ready at a moment's notice to go to the ends of the earth and it's pure torture to know a trip is coming up but that we can't leave yet...even if it's the next day or after nap time!

Kaylee is thinking about growing up. She talks about how she will be getting bigger but other times she wants to stay little. She likes to pretend to be my baby. But she also likes to be my "mommy" and tuck me in for naps (my favorite game!!).

Kaylee is quick to hug and give kisses. She often says "Oh, I love you so much!" or "Mom, you're the best!" One day after telling me she loved me, she got a real sad look on her face and said, "But, I love Daddy best" It was so cute. I know she was meaning to say that she missed daddy because he was at work, but she didn't quite know how to say it.

Hudson... oh Hudson! What a character! He loves to dance and jump. He loves to sit and cuddle with me. He loves to try on everyone's shoes and walk around the house. He can climb up on chairs and tables now (yikes). When he walks he sometimes squats like he's going to pounce. That kid has some serious thigh muscles, let me tell you!

But the most amazing thing about Hudson right now is that his brain is just a sponge. At 14 months old he started pointing to letters and saying them correctly. He knows all his ABC's - capital and mostly lower case as well. Although for M he says "emma" and with W he says "double". He's got most of his numbers 1-10 down as well. It's funny the difference with kids. I remember being concerned at Kaylee's 18 month appointment because she only had a few words at the time. Hudson not only has tons of words, but he already knows his ABC's. I guess it helps having an older sibling. It also helps that his favorite book is an ABC book.

One more thing on Hudson so I don't forget. He says banana as "obama". Kinda cute. I wonder if he things President Obama's name is really President Banana. :-)

Christmassy Fun

This year I finally had the energy and lack of sanity to do some fun Christmas "crafts" with Kaylee. Hudson helped pick up any strays that made their way off the table.

We made some sugar cookies to go with our tea.

I also glued together some graham crackers as a lazy way to make gingerbread houses. How lazy was I? I used store bought canned frosting too! I figured the kids wouldn't know any different. This was a project we did on a day that Kaylee's friend Emily was over to play. I've never had these kids occupied and happy for so long!

Here's Kaylee's house:

And here's Emily's house:

The Sunday before Christmas was Kaylee's very first Christmas play performance. She's always been so shy. I've often wondered just what she'd do if she was put in front of a crowd like that. But she did great. She was well behaved and often tried to sing along - with very exaggerated mouth movements (very funny), but of course was easily distracted by the other little ones around her.

The teachers told us they thought she would probrably be the dress lifter this year (there always seems to be one every year, right?) So we joked about drawing something on her belly, like "Amen" or "Hi Mom". Turned out she was able to refrain this time. Oh well...

For those of you who get our yearly video, you'll get to see it next year!

And of course, no Christmas program would be complete with out a bag of treats!!

Sno Fun

Our one and only snowfall of the winter (so far) brought this little bit of happiness to our day.

My Birthday

This was my birthday present - a waffle maker! I always wanted one. It came with a recipe for "overnight waffles" that is amazing! They are light and crispy and unbelievably good.

Good call, Jeff!

Waffles are becomming a new Sunday morning tradition!

My Park

Here are some pictures of me and the kids in my favorite place during my favorite time of year: "my park" during the fall in MN:

Kaylee almost made it the whole way around the lake...