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.

Vacation was great!

We went to Missouri for a few days to visit my Dad's side of the family. We had a fabulous time and wished we could have stayed a few more days. Shane and B arrived on Thursday night, us (along with my parents) arrived on Friday, and Jed arrived on Saturday. So we each got to spend some alone time with Granny and Grandpa. Calla did a great job on the long car ride and did good getting to know all of her family from Missouri! Enjoy all of the pics.

Calla in her new car before we left for vacation.

Playing in the water at Great Granny and Grandpa's

Beautiful B!!!

The girls with Great Granny and Grandpa...we had to have Papa Bryan in there to keep the girls in there.

Uncle Jed and his girls!!

Happy Birthday America!!!

We did all of our celebrating yesterday and just get to hang out as a family today! We went to Stacey and Pat's (Chad's cousin) to their Annual 3rd of July Party. We ate lots of great food there and Calla got to play with Layne and Hank. (Their dad is Chad's cousin) Layne and Hank both played really well with Calla and she had so much fun following them around! Then we went out to Pam and Dave's house to watch the big fireworks that the city puts on. We hung out with Amber, Andy, and Elly there and the girls had fun chatting with each other.

I want to encourage you to say a prayer for my friend Gina and her family. Gina's mother, Stella, is struggling with cancer and their families could use some extra prayers. There is a link to their website (Gavin) on our page too if you want to leave them some encouraging words.

I also want to tell all of you picture mongrels about a great site I recently found. It is www.picturewagon.com and prints are only 5 cents each...this sure beats my 15 cents at Walmart. I ordered pics on Monday and received them on Thursday!!! Just wanted to share this great price with all of you!

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!

Layne, Hank, and Calla

Calla at 16 Months!

Calla has turned 16 months since I last updated! She continues to be the greatest thing ever in our lives. Our daycare provider was gone for a few days and so Calla spent some time with my parents. Chad and I were so bored...we need Calla to entertain us I guess! She was sure glad to be back home, but also had a blast playing with my mom's day care kids.
We continue to be outside as much as possible and Calla loves it...she even is ok with bugspray and sunscreen. Last week I took her to one of the public pools and she did ok with it. It has a zero depth entry and so she could walk in and out of the water and liked that. We also got a little pool for her at home and she played in that last Sunday and enjoyed that.
He vocabulary continues to grow by the day and so far everything she says are words we are ok with! On Friday she gave me a kiss for the first time...my heart just melted. I was laying on the floor playing with her, she came up to me and said "Ma!" and then she put her lips on mine and said "mwah!" It was so precious!!!!
Her dad is definitely her favorite person and she just lights up when he comes home after work! She loves to be held by him and snuggle up.
Thanks for checking in on us!

She is learning how to feed herself with a spoon!

She was so proud of herself that she got some on the spoon and into her mouth!!

Fishing with Daddy

Last Sunday night we went out to Yanney Heritage Park to go fishing. We still did not have full electricity and our air conditioning was not working so it was HOT!!! We went down by the lake and it was BEAUTIFUL! Calla and I sat and watched a bird play on the reeds and watched Daddy fish. He caught a bass and Calla checked it out a little bit, but really was not that interested! I was excited to catch an 11 inch fish in that lake!!! The pictures are all from our adventure fishing!
Tonight we went to Harmon Park and listened to some good old music. Chad felt like he was at a Lawrence Welk concert, but Calla enjoyed just being outside. We met up with a few friends and had a great evening...it didn't even rain one drop the whole time!!! That is almost unheard of here anymore!
Calla continues to be amazing every day. She now can tell you what a cow, horse, pig, sheep, and dog say. She says: "shoes, ball, cup, night night, go, Dada, Mama, Papa, dog..." the list goes on! She absolutely loves to be outside and ride in the bike cart! She sits still to let me paint her toe nails and fix her hair...I think we might have a girly girl!!!
Thanks for checking in on us!

We are alive

Last night was a very intense night at our home. Chad, Calla, and I were under the basement steps for around 1/2 hour as strong storms tore through our neighborhood. Our street had lots of damage and our house was included. A house 2 blocks west had no roof left and a laywers office one block east had part of its roof torn off as well. We lost lots of shingles on the south side of our house and a broken window to Calla bedroom. Our mailbox was torn off and Calla's little tikes castle is still missing. My in-laws and other family were there in a hour after it happened and our roof had tar paper covering it again before nightfall. We walked around the neighborhood a bit last night and think that by the look of several trees a tornado was present. The trees are twisted and mangled and not as a result of high winds only. Things could have been much worse and we are very thankful we only had as much damage as we do have. Our call was made this morning to the insurance adjustor and hopefully we will be good as new again soon. Thanks for all of the calls and texts letting us know you were thinking of us. It is hard to believe that this could really happen to my family again. Thankfully we serve an all knowing Father and only he knows the way of our lives.

Here is a part of our roof and the damage it sustained.

Our front porch: notice the crooked railing, the missing mailbox and the broken window

The Stop sign.

Calla's bedroom window...it only broke through the first pane of glass.

The funky clouds around 8:30PM

Another week gone by...

Chad and Calla had a great week without me. :-( I learned many new things and definitely will be better at my career b/c of it! I got to see Bodies Revealed which is something I have wanted to see for several years now...AMAZING! It is real human bodies and body parts they they plastify so that people can learn how the body works. Go to www.bodiesrevealed.com to learn more.
We went on a bike ride yesterday and ended up out in a wooded area by a creek and I had my camera, so I took some cool pics!
I also ask that you continue to pray for my friend Stephanie and her mom Cheryl and the rest of their family. Cheryl has surgery tomorrow and will begin chemo a few weeks after that. She has a battle ahead of her, but like many of you she knows Our Maker and He will be with her and her family every step of the way. What an awesome God we serve!
We also had to say good-bye to some friends of ours this weekend. Eric and Amanda are moving to Lincoln and we will miss hanging out with them and becoming better Christians by talking with them.
Have a grand week!

Calla and Elly with our friend Amanda.

Chad and Calla on the path in the woods.

Calla in the tall grass. She fell down and had some scratches on her face...nice job mom.

A family close-up!

Calla on the path...she loved walking around!

Prayers needed

A close friend of mine has learned today that her mother has breast cancer. I do not want to name any names at this point, but just ask that you keep them in your prayers. Thanks!

Happy Mother's Day--2008

We wanted to wish a Happy Mother's Day to Grandma Karma, Grandma Julie, Great Grandma Mona, Great Grandma Bernice, Great Grandma Lorene, and Great Grandma Carolyn!!! Any other mother's who are reading this, we also wish you a happy day where you are thanked for all of the great things you do for your children!!!

We also wanted to share some new pics from this week. We have been taking lots of bike rides and Calla LOVES to ride in her cart on Daddy's bike. We also take the wagon to the park to play disc golf quite a bit. Calla spent the night at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Karma's on Friday so that Chad and I could go to a retirement party. She had a great time!! We also went to a graduation party and a birthday party...busy Saturday!!

Chillin in her new car seat.

Posing in the flowers this morning.

Going for a bike ride!!!

Check out Calla's curly hair...this is what it looks like when she gets out of the bath!!!

It's been awhile...

Here are some new pictures from the last week or so!

Hanging out on the front porch.

We gave her a bath in our new extra large kitchen sink! She loved it!!

Cleaning out the pantry...it was SO MUCH FUN!!