fresh snow, fresh year

4:00 and N is just now taking his first nap of the day. He can be so dependable and routine, but he then decides to throw in a day like today. I guess what matter most now is that it's a long one! (My fingers are crossed.)

We had our first winter storm today. It's hard to tell just how much snow since it's blowing around so much. At least a few inches. I'm really wishing we were back in St. Louis right now. They knew how to take care of winter weather. They would be out 36 hours or so before treating all the roads before anything ever happened. They would even do it if the chance of snow wasn't too great. Here it's horrible! It's almost like being in Arkansas! I'm hoping it just because they didn't expect this to really pan out and thought it would come as rain. The definitely have the capability to clear the road; they just weren't working on it.

Thanks to the snow, I think we are just going to stay holed up in our cozy house. I started the fire place when we got home, and have been enjoying keeping warm. It's too windy to take N out (plus, he needs his nap). B and Maggie are going to go play fetch with snowballs in a bit. I'm sure we'll try to get N out before it all melts. Dave and Kay (B's parents) gave N an inflatable little snow sled to pull him around in. It should be fun and make for some great pictures!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Aftermath

Christmas Eve:

Ready!. . . Set! . . . Tear! Let the opening begin!
Yawn. This unwrapping is a very tiring job. (But someone has to get all these gifts!)
Look! More gifts to unwrap! Maybe Mom will help make this happen a little faster!
Clothes! Yum! I love to chew on these things!

Christmas Day:
Check on some of these great new toys that are so much fun to play with!Is it my turn yet? I want to open this one!

Taking a break in Great-Grandpa S's rocker.

Ahhh, the beautiful sound of quietness. B headed back to work today, N is napping, the dog is outside, and I have a few moments to myself. Things are starting to return to normal around the house after a very busy few days. I'm still working on finding spots for a lot of the new things that we were blessed with, but I'm slowly seeing progress.

Christmas Eve was a day at home for us. We had N work on openning his gifts on and off all day. He's good at tearing the papers, but he's still not too speedy. My parents got to watch N open his presents from them thanks to the webcam. B and I exchanged our gifts after getting home from church and putting N to bed. It's was nice to spend a few minutes together without N crawling all over us or the t.v. on!

On Christmas day, we headed down to B's parents house after B was done preaching. We had a nice, big turkey dinner and opened gifts with them. N refused to nap the entire time there, which led to a very tired boy on the trip home.

Yesterday, we tried to get through some of the mess and made a little bit of progressed. It was nice to just sit down and watch a movie at the end of the day yesterday.

I'm considering a ban on all toys which make noise for N's birthday. He loves everything he got, but I'm already getting worn out with the repetitiveness of some toys. I think the policy might be that you can get him a noisy toy, but he'll only get to play with it at your house since that's where it'll stay!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming . . .

Less than a week to go until Christmas and the K house is full of excitement:

• N's still getting over the cold that started over a week ago.


• We celebrated Christmas with the extended K family on Sunday. All three of us had fun and love the gifts we got!


• My car rolled over the 100,000 mile mark Sunday. (Think she'll last another 9 years?)


• We're all done with our Christmas shopping and have been for a few days! I'm still in the mood to wrap more gifts though.)


• Today is laundry day and there's tons of it! I should throw a laundry folding party; wanna come?


• I'm waiting on a call from a nurse to tell me what to do now that N's decided to start throwing up and leaving presents in his diapers which we won't discuss. (You'd think he'd want to get completely over the cold before coming down with something else!)

With the laundry, sick child, and aging car, I just don't know how to contain all of my excitement! How in the world can Christmas day's excitement top today? (Oh yeah, and there's bills to be paid!)

Major Milestone Marked

B, N, and I bundled up and loaded into the car last night for a routine trip to Wal-mart for diapers and baby food. (do they carry anything else anymore, I wouldn't know) Little did we know that it would be a night to remember. We unsuspectingly walked towards the store after situating N in the cart. Just as assumed, there was a friendly, older gentleman (I never have occasion to use the word gentleman, but it seems to fit) ready to greet us with a "hello" and a smile. Then it happened. He did more than smile and say "hello". He asked if the little guy would like a sticker. I stood in a shocked ponderment state. "He's too little for a sticker," I thought. On the other hand, this was a big deal! My little baby was offered his first (0f many I'm sure) Wal-mart smiley stickers! He wore it proudly. I can't seem to find the page in his baby book to keep his first Wal-mart sticker though. I'm sure it was a mistake, surely they know what a big deal that is, right?!?!? When's the last time you were offered a Wal-mart sticker?

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Holiday Tips and News from N

Check out these two teeth! They are getting bigger and bigger. I don't seem to keep them hidden under my tongue all the time now. I can even catch the spoon with them as Mom is feeding me. (It drives her nut!) I've been working on fitting my entire fist in my mouth lately. Most of the time, 3 fingers is as many as I can coordinate getting in at once. If you came to visit me, you would see that I almost always have at least one in my mouth at all times.Mom doesn't want me telling you how to do this, but it's really fun to see her get frustrated as I try to make Christmas come early! First, ignore the 20 toys Mom set on the blanket for you to play with and roll towards the Christmas tree. Then, you have to stretch as far as you can, while on your belly of course, for one of the gifts with a pretty ribbon on it. (Ones without ribbons don't win you as many frustration points.)Next, bang on the present to flip it towards yourself. Make sure to get your mouth full of drool on it as it flips. (Also adds to Mom's frustration.)
Last, do as much damage to gift before Mom comes running. Make sure to flash Mom a huge smile when she is upset. (This usually makes her forget everything!) Most of all, have fun and repeat often!

Shhh, they're sleeping

Sleepyhead N would like to introduce you to his newest sleepyhead cousin, Will. Both are too tired to play right now, but just give them some time. I'm sure they'll be running in circles around us in no time at all!

Wait Over!

I got a call from Matt while on my way home from lunch with Brad.

William Aloysius was born on December 5th at 6:35am (eastern time, i assume).
He is a healthy 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 inches long. He is happily sleeping now.

Matt and Lindsay are both doing well. Both are just as tired as Will is. Matt promises there will be tons of pictures tomorrow.

Praise God for a healthy baby and safe delivery!

The Great Baby Wait

The current news: there's not really much to say. Lindsay's water broke at 3:30 this morning; therefore, they went into the hospital then rather than at 5:00 (central time). We haven't gotten any word about the c-section being done yet.

I'll keep you posted!

Picture Walk

Below are some of our pictures from the trip. They are in no particular order.

- The few hours of sunshine were quickly fading with the incoming clouds.
- A view up the slope that was closest to our place.
- A stroller and snow do not make a good combo. N and I had fun watching the skiers.
- Brad just couldn't help being a kid and playing with a huge icicle.
- The rest are a few of the nature pics I couldn't help taking. It was too pretty to not take a ton of photos. (Too bad the blue skies didn't stick around for all of them.)

Neither B or I went skiing. We did enjoy walking around the village we were staying in. Luckily no one had any major injuries. There were several sore kids, but they all did really well. I would go back at any time with any one who wants to go!

Home Sweet Home

We are happily returned for our hard working weekend of taking 23 youth to Keystone, CO. I'm exhausted from late nights and must go to bed. Will post pictures tomorrow and tell more. Must recommend CO in the winter to any and everyone one: gorgeous!