Uncle "Wob"

This past weekend we got a special visit from my Uncle Rob (the kids' Great-Uncle). He is my Dad's next oldest brother and was also his closest friend. He lives up in Minnesota and the last time I saw him I was pregnant with Christian. He had met Emily when we drove up to Grand Lake (in Minnesota), but she was only 18 months old at the time. So, it had been awhile! Business brought him down for a short visit and it was so fun to have him around and to meet Christian and Kari.

We all gathered for a delicious dinner courtesy of my mom (really, does she make anything that's NOT delicious??). It was good to catch up a bit and Rob got to see the kiddos in action!
My Uncle is special b/c much like my Grandma Carolyn, he's always been a part of our lives. When we were little, we'd get to go over to his house and we'd go out for blueberry pancakes, or after he got married to my Aunt Barb, she'd make us all the BEST French Toast. (I've tried to duplicate it and I just can't do it!) Even now, they still continue to show their love and support by sending the kids gifts and cards at Christmas and on their birthdays.

For me, Rob has also provided a link to my Dad since he's been gone. As brothers, they both have very similar mannerisms, voices, even the way that they talk and laugh. When he and my brother get together, I swear it's like I'm watching Rob and my Dad interact all over again!

I was so glad that he could come down for a bit--it's such a short plane ride, I hope he'll want to venture back down again soon! (We can take the kiddos to the zoo and other fun places, Rob!! :-) )

(The "funny faces" pictures always turn out the best!)

Christian's First Day of Preschool

Some highlights from Christian's first day at the YMCA preschool:

1. It was finally HIS TURN! We've been dropping his big sister off there for 2 yrs and it was finally time for Christian to stay and play!

2. His new Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle backpack--he wore it around until it was time to go to school.

3. The mohawk was in full effect--and he got lots' of compliments on it!

4. SNACK TIME. Enough said.

5. Playing with the dinosaurs and making a new friend named Jacob.

Overall, Christian had a good first day. Not quite the "dream come true" that school is in Emily's eyes, but still, he is almost 9 months younger than she was when she started preschool 2 yrs ago.

Christian is in Ms. Sandi's class--the "young ones". Although it is her first year teaching, she has been working with kids through the various YMCA programs now for many years and, it turns out that 8 of the 12 children in his class knew her from those classes. No tears from the little ones--a first!

Christian is a very sensitive little boy though and when I picked him up, he was rather quiet. I asked what was wrong and he told me "Ms. Sandi got mad at me." Hmmm...I went back into the school and asked her what had happened. At first, she couldn't think of why he'd say that...but then she remembered that in the math station she had told the whole class not to touch the puzzles. So, what does Christian do? He walks over, pulls out three puzzles and dumps them on the floor. (Christian loves puzzles and so I'm sure he just wanted to play with them.) Ms. Sandi told him that he wasn't supposed to have touched the puzzles and that was it. Most kids wouldn't have thought twice about it. But, apparently, Christian is rather sensitive.

We both explained to Christian that Ms. Sandi wasn't mad, but it was just important to listen to the teacher. Sweet boy. I don't think there was any permanent damage done though b/c later when Emily asked him how school was, he said "good". We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Oh, and just for the record--this is our third year w/a GREEN shirt! (Each class is distinguished by a different color shirt.) We were going to have Christian wear one of Emily's old ones, but at the orientation meeting, they were handing out the t-shirts and Christian looked up at me and said, "where's my shirt?" every so sweetly. So, what the heck, it was worth having ONE more green shirt...with any luck, we'll get green again when it's Kari's turn!

Labor Day 2010

Labor Day was so much fun! We just kinda' "went with the flow" of the day and it turned out great. First up, Cubby made a rope swing for the kids out front! It turned out great and Emily and Christian really enjoyed it! Thanks, Daddy--you're becoming quite the handyman!

After lunch and when Kari woke up from her nap, we decided to try and make it down to the zoo b/c we figured the pool would be pretty crowded, being the last day it was open and all. WELL, let me tell you, the rest of Omaha must've had the exact same idea! I have NEVER seen the zoo so packed. It was IN-SANE. Funny thing happened though, just as we had parked and were walking in when we started to hear these large booms...followed by huge cracks of lightening! Needless to say, we turned right back around and got back into the car! (The picture above is us walking AWAY from the zoo--check out the sky!) As we were pulling out, it looked as though many others had the same plan to leave as we did and did not want to be stuck inside the Desert Dome (or other indoor attractions) with 10,000 other people!

So we didn't disappoint the kiddos, we drove over to Fontenelle Forest--thinking that we'd just play indoors in their exploratory area downstairs. It must've been meant to be that we end up there b/c the weather cleared enough for us to go outside a bit too! We had a lot of fun seeing the "bugs" (big statues of bugs on display) and playing in their outdoor adventure place too.

Kari did wondefully--this big girl has gotten not one but FOUR teeth this week!!! Yes, the bottom front two came in last Tuesday and the top front two broke through today--YIKES! As of today also, she is CRAWLING! Not just army crawling (that was soooo last week) but up-on-all-fours crawling! Such a big girl.

We finished off the day with a BBQ dinner at my mom's house. It was super delicious and the kids had a great time playing with Grandma and Harvey.

We hope everyone's Labor Day was as happy as ours! Look out, world, Christian starts preschool tomorrow!!!

Growing Pains

So, today I did what I do every season--go through the kids' clothes and take out what doesn't fit anymore. It's always a time when I get a bit nostalgic and it just reminds me of how quickly they grow! (Especially Christian--my goodness, he's grown, like, 2 inches in the last month! Yeah, I'm so not kidding either.) So, (sigh) I pack away the favorite dress that Emily wore just last spring, and, all but 3 pairs of Christian's pants go into a bin as well. The days get so busy and hectic at times and this whole process of clothes sorting really makes me step back and realize how grateful I am for this reminder that helps me to appreciate where my children have been, where they're at now, and where they're going!

Soccer 101

Soccer season officially began on Saturday. This is Christian's first season and he was super excited. In a matter of minutes, he also became an expert in how the game is played by telling him: "No use hans (hands), own (only) tweet (feet). Kick and score!"

It was so cute. Half of the game he spent running in the bunch of other 3 and 4 yr olds who were all chasing the ball. The other half he spent watching them run down the field and then cheering when someone (from either team) scored. He got some good kicks and and is convinced he scored 3 goals. (Everyone was in such a bunch, I couldn't really tell.)

Here is Christian doing some warm ups with his team and coach--"Coach Dave".

Emily also had her first game! And, her coach is her Daddy! (None of the other parents could do it and so he stepped up so they wouldn't have to disband the team.) He may not think so, but he's going to be great--he's wonderful with kids, coaching just comes naturally!

Now, the last time Emily played, she had fun (most of the time) but wasn't super "into" going after the ball. This time, she much more aggressive (the good kind) and would've scored if one of her own teammates hadn't blocked her shot :-). So, this season is shaping up to be full of action...not to mention some good humor! Way to go, kids!

Funny Girl

Little Kari is becoming quite the character--she watches her brother and sister all day long so is this really all that surprising? The other day she and Christian were just hamming it up on our bed--Christian was being my helper and reading her a book (her favorite are the touch-and-feel kind). I was getting ready in our bathroom and I can hear them both giggling pretty hard. It was so cute! Even though Emily is now gone during the day, Christian has found a new little friend in Kari. Thankfully, he knows not to pummel her like he does his big sis!

And, who can resist taking bathtime pictures?! They're just too cute. Kari loves her baths and even has enough hair for me to put it in a little mohawk of her own! Ha!

Finally, at the end of the day (well, about every 2-3 hrs), Kari needs her beauty rest. I usually refrain from taking pictures while the kids sleep (they might just wake up!) but she'd been sleeping for awhile and we needed to go somewhere so it didn't matter if she woke up or not :-).
It's just too sweet.

In other Kari-related news, she is sooooo close to crawling! So close, in fact, that Cubby and I are betting she'll be mobile by the end of the week! At 7 months, she'll be my earliest crawler---Emily hated being on her tummy and we thought she'd skip crawling all together (and she almost did--I think she crawled for about 2 weeks at 9 1/2 months before walking at 10 mo). Christian was just so fat that it was tougher for him to get going! He was closer to 9 mos as well and walked at 11 mos. So, Kari is my early-bird! Get out the baby gates! Oh boy!

Rock, Chop, MOHAWK!

Yup, as per our potty-training deal, Christian got his beloved mohawk this past weekend. It's actually kind-of a faux-hawk b/c it's only up top and not down the back (thank goodness). Uncle Kyle cut it and Christian just loves it. Kyle said we need to invest in some sort of product to keep it nice and "hawk-like". Funny that our three year old would use product and we, well, don't.

Ah, Christian, you are quite the character!