Room Progress and the Pumpkin Patch

Calla is back at home after spending the week with Grandma Jules and Papa Bryan. She had a great time, but did miss her Mom and Dad a little! Chad and I did some work on the house while she was gone, so finally we are finished with everything inside!!!! We painted our bedroom and put in a new floor. We are so, so thankful that Chad's Dad, Mike, has all the tools and expertise we need in order to make our house what we want it to be! It is so helpful that he lives close so that we can borrow his tools and his truck! Thanks Mike!
We ended up taking the curtains from Calla's room for our room and got different sheer curtains for Calla's room...it is so PINK when the shades are up and the sun shines in. We love it! We added a brown stripe to our walls so that we could tie in our brown sheets with our black duvet. The laminate floors make the rooms look so much nicer and actually a place we want to be! Most of Calla's toys are in her room so she enjoys playing in there.

Saturday we met my parents, Shane and Burlynn at the Pumpkin Patch near Hastings. It is a great little patch with plenty to do and we just had a blast following the girls around. The loved to jump in the big jump house and the big slides were also fun. The goats were attacking Grandpa and that was entertaining to watch as well. They added a new duck pump race and Burlynn had fun pumping the water to get the ducks going and Calla loved to put the ducks in the trough so that they could float down to the end.

Grandma Carolyn is back in the hospital and needs some prayers that her strength is restored.

Thanks for checking in on us!

Calla really liked the corn box again this year!

Here she is last year in the corn box...wow she has grown!

She really liked the wooden train...she kept saying "Choo, Choo!!"

Crawling through the train!

This year she was big enough to go down the slide into the corn!

The girls wanted to challenge Papa to a game of checkers!

B was pumping the water for the ducks...and getting herself all wet!!

Calla and her Daddy playing Guitar Hero.

Calla's room with a new chair and the new curtains.

Here is the other window and her star coat hooks!

Here is a view of our room!

And another view!

I have been tagged!

I have been tagged by Brenda to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder. This is me at 36 weeks pregnant...wow this was a long time ago! I posed for Chad every week so that I could put a picture up here. This is close to the end, but Calla was still up pretty high as she had not dropped any yet. Thanks for bringing me back to this time Brenda!
I am supposed to tag 6 people, but I don't know 6 other people who have a website, so Becky is the only one for me to tag! Come on Becky post a good pic for us to see.




In other news, Calla has been with my parents all week. Our daycare provider's mother-in-law passed away Monday and so she took the rest of the week off. Chad's parents are in Florida on vacation so we called Grandma Jules to fill in! Calla has been having a blast breaking all the rules at daycare...hopefully Shirley does not have too tough of a time Monday getting her to remember the rules again. Thanks for checking in!

The (almost) Finished Product!!!

Chad has busted his tail every night this week in Calla's bedroom! On Monday night, we took Calla to Grandma Karma and Papa Mike's to hang out so that we could paint the ceiling and touch up the white stripe. Tuesday night, Chad bought all the trim and touched up all the paint. On Wednesday night, they played in the park while I went to church and then Chad touched up the brown. Tonight he cut most of the trim strips and hung those. As you can see from the pics there is still a little more to do. Calla is in there tonight and some of her things are put back away. We decided to rearrange the furniture, so there will be a few kinks to iron out before we decide for sure which way it will stay.

I do want to ask for prayers for my Grandma Carolyn, she has been in the hospital this week and came home today to finish recuperating. Grandpa Roy is also struggling with his health and also needs prayers.

Let us know what you think of our bedroom creation!

Calla's cute pigtails!

This is where Calla thought she should sleep tonight...we changed her diaper and put her in her bed with her pillow and blanket, she was happy then!

A quick peek!!

Chad and his Dad have worked really hard so far this weekend updating Calla's bedroom. Her room had water damage after our roof leaked from the tornado in May.
Papa Mike patched the ceiling yesterday and also the floor. Then last night, they put in the new wood laminate floor...and we love it!!!!!! Today they mudded the ceiling some more and the holes in the walls left from everything we had hung up.

Tonight Chad is finishing up the texturing of the ceiling and has started painting the pink stripe. Yesterday at Target I found this rug that will look awesome with the brown that will be on the bottom of the walls. I will update again in a few days with the finished project!

Chad does such good work! We are leaving the white at the top and then the pink with the bottom brown!!

Calla insists on being in there with her Dad while he is painting tonight. The floor is covered with drywall dust, but you can see the general color.

Here is the rug I found for $6.00 at Target!!

It has been so much fun!

Lots has happened since we last met up! Calla is still learning so much all the time...it seems like there is about something everyday! Right now she is playing on the new slide she got from Grandma and Grandpa. When we brought it home she would not crawl up and insisted that I help. After two helps she wanted to do it alone and now she crawls up and down, up and down, up and down all by herself! The dolls are even going up and down with a little help from Calla.

We went to Lincoln this weekend and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Williams, Uncle Shane, Uncle Jed, and Little B! We even got to see Gina and Gavin while we were at the zoo, and we got to meet Harvey and Amanda's new guy, Lane.
Yesterday we went to the zoo and Gavin and the girls had lots of fun checking out all the animals. We got to feed the goats and llamas. It was so fun seeing Gina again and getting to know Gavin a little bit more.
After lunch we went to an indoor playground, Lost in Fun. www.lostinfun.com It was a blast! The girls loved climbing in and out of the house and cooking all they could find inside. We even played a little basketball there and went on the jump house. We went to the motel and watched the game and had a picnic on the floor while we all hung out.
Today we got to meet Lane. He is so cute and so alert at such a young age.

Grandma Carolyn came through surgery well and is working on healing now. At this point she is not going to do any chemo or radiation. Grandpa is having a harder time with his health and they still need prayers. Stephanie's mom, Cheryl, had surgery last week and also needs prayers as she continues to heal.

Thanks for coming back to see how things were going in our world!

Of course, Calla loved the balls!

In the ball pit

A swinging B!

B and Daddy shooting hoops!

B was being "crabby!"

She found her swimming suit last weekend when Grandma Karma was here and insisted on wearing it...so Grandma put it on her. This will be a nice blackmail picture someday.

Tired Girl.

Gavin, Burlynn, and Calla at the zoo.

Checking out the turtles.

Gavin on the spider web

Calla's World!

What a busy week we have had! Last week my kiddos started back to school so I have been spending much more time thinking about work then I am getting paid for, but life happens sometimes. Calla has spent lots of time with her Daddy and they always have a great time. I am also helping with Awana at our church this year so that too started last week.
Over the weekend Calla and I went to see my parents, and brothers, and Burlynn. We had a short trip, but a great time! As much as Calla wants to be like Burlynn, Burlynn tries to copy Calla as well. It is almost comical at times.
My Grandma Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. We are unsure of treatment at this time, but know that HE has a plan and we will do our best to follow it. Thanks for checking in on us and enjoy all of the Calla pics!

She took her 'snacks' into her bedroom to sit in the chair and eat. I am not for sure how she climbed into the chair without spilling :)

Monkey see, Monkey do!

Calla was really concerned as to why her Daddy was laying on the floor looking at the bottom of the cabinets. (He was finishing up the mop boards.)

Calla & Uncle Shane

18 Month Stats

Last weekend Calla hit 18 months already. This week we went in for shots and then in for her checkup. She weighs 19.3 lbs and that puts her in the 3rd percentile. She is 30 inches tall and that puts her in the 10th percentile. She is little, but I am not tall so they don't expect her to be huge at any point. Dr. thought she looked great in everything else!
She continues to be amazing! She now can tell you what sound an owl makes and also a snake. We read, and read, and read, and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?; Polar Bear, Polar Bear; Baby Bear, Baby Bear; and Panda Bear, Panda Bear! She loves these books and loves telling us what sound each animal makes!
She can say about 25-30 different words and understands many more then that. It is also fun for her to repeat things you ask her to say. Elmo is a favorite of hers now too! We really have not exposed her to many Sesame Street things, but at daycare they enjoy it and so now when she spots Elmo she yells out his name. We found an Elmo at Wal-Mart and bought it so she has carried him around since we got him home!
We are just hanging out as a family this Holiday weekend. We had a garage sale at church today and did well there. Tomorrow we have a picnic in the evening and are hoping to find some water to play in before that! On Monday I think we are going to GI to go shopping and play some disc golf. Tuesday my new class starts and I am excited to see what this year brings in the life of 3, 4, and 5 year olds!
We hope that you continue to be well. If you have a minute visit Gavin's site and leave some encouraging words for my friend Gina. She is really missing her Mother and could use some encouragement in her day.
Enjoy the new pics!

Going "night, night" on her Dora couch with her pillow.

At the races with Great Grandpa Marvin!

Chillin at the park!

Watching the dogs swim in the pool. (It was a fund raiser for the Humane Society)

On the front porch.

I did it!!!

Just a quick update about myself. This morning, I ran in my first 5k race. I finished at 37 minutes and 29 seconds! When practicing, I would run about 40 minutes or a little more, so my goal was to do it under 40 minutes.
I have not really talked about my running on here much. I started the Couch to 5k program at the beginning of June. When I first started, I ran 5 days a week. Now I have cut down to 3 or 4 days. I have also added water aerobics, biking, walking, and yoga ball exercises to the mix.
It was such a great feeling to know that I can run 3.1 miles in one setting! I encourage you to go to www.coolrunning.com to check out their running programs if you are interested!

Knock, Knock...

Yeah...we are still here! Well the last few weeks of summer went too fast, but I am really excited to be back into the the swing of things. All of our staff started back to work this week and it has been great. I have a new, wonderful teacher assistant that I am really excited to work with!!

How about Team USA in all of the Olympics! I don't know about all of you, but we have watched WAY more TV in the last 5 days then we have all summer. Michael Phelps is a-ma-zing! May and Walsh also have a special place in my tv line up!! Oh, and the gymnasts! The runners are still to come...after this summer they have a very special place in my heart!

I do ask for prayers for my friend Gina and her family. Gina's beautiful, funny, kind mother passed away on Sunday. Go to the link to the side, Gavin, to leave them some words of strength.


Calla! She is doing wonderful. She impresses us more everyday. Seriously, every night she does something that is so adorable that we just laugh at and think about how lucky we are to have this beautiful girl in our lives!! Tonight she was playing with this hammer that makes noise when you hit it on something or if you just shake it in the air. She has had this toy since Christmas and has not really played with it, until tonight. She was so intensely looking at it when it would light up and make noises and just shake it more to make it work. We could just see the gears running in her head as she was trying to figure out how it works. She loves to give us kisses and can do the sign for 'love' when you say it to her she will do it...talk about melting a Mommy's heart!

I do have to brag on my little brother a bit too. He got 2nd place in his car race on Monday night in Belleville! Way to go Jedrek!! Hopefully we will make it to McCool this weekend to watch him. This is his first year racing his own car and has just improved a little each week and has gained some very valuable experience along the way.

Thanks for checking in on us. Hopefully the updates are not so far between next time, but no promises.

She looks like a "Toadstool" from Nintendo!!

She loved to sit in the baby swing when we had it out to give to my mom!

She loves to play piano!

No! Mine!

These are Calla's two favorite words already...YIKES!!!! During the last week she just picked these up from somewhere and uses them ALL the time. I was hoping they would come a little bit closer to age two, but I guess at least she is talking...look for the positive!
Things here are great and we are just so blessed to have this wonderful little girl in our lives. Calla continues to learn new things each day and seems so much more like a little toddler than a baby...makes me sad :'(
As you can see from the pics she loves to be in the water. This weekend was the first time we got the Dora sprinkler out and she did ok with it, she really just liked to sit in the pool with mommy! I spared you from the pics from that adventure! HA! She really likes to go to the big pool and swim with mommy and daddy, but we can't afford to do that every day like we would like to. She is really into carrying bags and buckets all over with things in them. She has a Little Tikes car inside our house that she climbs in and out of. This last week she has learned how to be like Uncle Jed and climb in and out of the window! Yikes Danica Patrick move over Calla is coming your way!!

*On a side note: Kolden is completely off of the ventilator and out of a coma. His mommy got to hold him for the first time this weekend; I got to see a picture and it was priceless. Keep praying for this family as they have lots of rehabilitation ahead of them.*

Thanks for checking in on us!

Eating an ice cream bar...she was really messy when finished!

Checking out the Dora sprinkler before we turned it on!

Playing in the pool!

She loved this little chair we had for her; it was the perfect height and didn't really tip too easily!

Wearing mommy's shoes!

Update on Kolden

Baby Kolden is doing much better! Praise the LORD!! He is slowly coming out of a coma and today his breathing tube was taken out! We do have an awesome GOD and all of the prayers so far have been answered. Kolden will be moved to Omaha to Children's Hospital soon to begin his rehabilitation.

I will update on our family later this weekend!

Prayers are appreciated

I would like to ask all of you readers to please say a prayer for a family from my work. Their 18 month old son fell on Monday and has a severe head injury. He has had part of his skull removed and today had part of his brain removed. He is in the most critical condition possible. There are 3 other children in this family that also could use some prayers during this time. It is so hard to understand God's will at times especially when such a young child is involved, but we know he is an awesome God and has a plan that one day we will see.