Four.

Four.

Somehow Kate turned four this week. I'm slightly in denial, but at the same time, I love watching her grow and change (each and every day, it seems like!).

Technically she turned four on Monday but this has been quite a week, so in what has become the "new normal" for me, I'm just now blogging about it.

On Sunday I took her over to our city park to get a few official four-year-old pictures. Here they are, and here is what Kate is up to...

This girl.  I couldn't have even dreamed her up.  Good thing our God is so imaginative and He knew exactly how he wanted to create her.  There is, and never will be, another kid just like her. She is smarter than I even know what to do with and we love her more than we ever could have imagined.

She makes us laugh and keeps us always guessing what will come next.

Just the other night, I was tucking her into bed. I'd just finished reading a story and put the book on the bedside table.  In an attempt to avoid going to sleep, Kate has gotten into the habit of getting toys or books and bringing them into her bed after Kevin and I have left the room.  So as we finished our story, I told her "Kate, I'm going to check on you in 5 minutes and if you have that book in your bed with you, I'm going to give you a spanking."

She didn't say anything for a minute and I could tell she was really thinking about it.

Then she looked at me and said "Just ONE spanking, right?"

This little smartypants was weighing the pros/cons of getting that book!  She did decide it wasn't worth it and actually went to sleep.

On a different note, Kate starts preschool on August 24th and this will be her last year before kindergarten.  We're excited to have her back at the same church preschool that she went to last year.  Potentially, she will be attending kindergarten there as well.  At her school, the teachers do home visits before the actual school year starts.  Her teacher stopped by our house today so Kate could meet her.  I really think Kate is going to have a great year, and I'm sure I will be amazed at how much she learns.

As kids get older, there are less "big" milestones to celebrate.  And by that, I mean less physical/tangible things - like taking those first steps, or trying first foods, talking in sentences, or jumping up and down.  Those things are noticeable to even those who aren't familiar with the child.  Now, we're in the stage where the "big" things that make me a proud mama aren't quite as noticeable to other people.

Things like...

• hearing her say please and thank you, or "God bless you"
• watching her share with her sister (which has definitely been a learning process)
• seeing her conquer something that has been intimidating
• hearing her pray for others
• watching her compassion for others, especially when someone has a "boo boo"
• seeing her learn to swim
• watching her learn to write and recognize letters
• hearing her sing songs about Noah, Joshua, Abraham, and best of all, Jesus
• feeling her arms around me and hearing "I love you, Mama"

Other people might not notice these things.  But I sure do.  And they make me so proud, and so happy to be her Mama.  This little FOUR year old girl is one of our greatest blessings. 

Karsten: 10 Months

Another month has come and gone. Every month seems to pass so quickly but this one really snuck up on me. I feel like we have been non-stop busy for the past 4 weeks, and it seems like the next 4 weeks are going to be the exact same!  

This sweet girl turned TEN months old on August 6th.  TEN MONTHS!  

I feel like not a whole lot has changed in a month, but at the same time, I feel like she has grown so much.  One major change is - she got her first tooth!  Right now she has one tiny tooth on the very bottom, but that is it! I have a feeling the other teeth will be popping in before too long.

She's still wearing size 3 diapers and they fit her well.  I have no idea how much she weighs, but she just feels so big to me now!

As far as sleeping goes, she is doing pretty well with that too!  She hasn't been as predictable with sleep as she was the last month, but we have absolutely nothing to complain about!  Every couple of days, it's like she gets tired way earlier than normal and ends up going to bed at 7pm.  Normal bedtime is closer to 8 or 830.  Her wake up time varies also.  She went through a few days where she was waking up at 7 or 730am, but normal wake up time for her is typically closer to 8am.  We are so very happy with how she is sleeping!!

Kevin and I went on a mission trip with our church, and took Kate along with us.  This was Kate's very first mission trip, but it just wasn't going to work out for Karsten to come too, so she stayed at home with my mother-in-law, Diane.  This was the first time we had been away from her, and man I missed this girl! It was only two nights but I was so ready to see her.  She is a mama's girl for sure, and I think she missed me too. :) 

She is pulling up and standing every moment that she can.  Of course she's crawling all over the place, but she would much rather be standing and cruising around the furniture if she can. So that's just what she does. 

Oh, and just 2 days after she turned 10 months old, she took 3-4 steps all on her own. I am SO not ready for that.  Can't she stay little for just a while longer? 

She's definitely not walking all over the place, but I'm sure we are not too far off from that. Tear. :(

10 months have passed so quickly.  It feels like we just got "the call" for her, and yet, that was over 300 days ago. 

Mission Trip '15



For the past few years, our church has gone on a mission trip with our youth and adults to a children's home in Tennessee - Wear's Valley Ranch, to be exact. I have yet to go on the trip, because I've stayed at home with the kids. With Kevin as the pastor, it'd be kind of weird if I went and HE stayed at home. You know, since he has been the one that planned and coordinated the trip each year. :)

Anyway, only 6th grade and up can go on the trip (little kids aren't allowed), but I guess being the pastor's kid occasionally has its privileges, and this was one of them. We decided to take Kate along with us this year!  So while the whole group would be gone from Sunday - Friday, we decided that I'd drive separately with Kate and stay Sunday - Tuesday.  It was a win for both of us, since I'd FINALLY get to go, and Kate would get a little taste of missions.

 

She was excited for the trip, but highly concerned about her after-church nap on Sunday.  We figured she would fall asleep on the drive up to Tennessee, and we were right...  

 

 

Let me just say that the children's home is located right on a mountain, and it is beautiful.  It is a working ranch.  They have horses, sheep, chickens, cows, and probably a lot of other stuff that I didn't even see.  They grow and raise a lot of what they eat.  The day we got there was actually chicken processing day (ie - the day they killed chickens).  But the scenery really was beautiful...

The very first job on day 1 involved some brush/shrub cleaning in the chicken pasture area (where they keep the chickens that provide eggs to the ranch). Five minutes into the cleanup and I looked over to see Kate outside of the pen, looking down at her shoe, instead of inside helping us clean up.

Me: Kate? What are you doing?

Kate: I got poop on my shoe. That's gross. I'm done helping people.

Mission trip complete.

 

Ha!  During the day, a lot of what we do involves cleanup around the ranch.  There are kids that live there year round, but there are also camps that are run there during the summer.  Needless to say, at the end of the summer, when all the campers have gone home, there is a lot of maintenance to do.  So we help with some of that stuff.

 

But the REAL fun comes at night, when we get to hang out with all of the kids.  On Monday night, we ordered pizza for the whole ranch (and of course had ice cream) and hung out in their big recreation barn area. We played basketball, and I learned quite a few "new" games: carpet ball, pit ball, and nine square.  We got to know a lot of the kids, and for those who had been on this trip multiple times, they got to hang out with some of the kids that had been around year after year.

 

Kate was in heaven. 

 

Monday night Kevin asked everyone in the group to name their favorite part of the trip so far.  There were lots of great moments up to that point, but I have to say that I absolutely LOVED seeing Kate run around with all those kids.  She was a stranger to no one. Her outgoing personality helps her make friends instantly and I hope she always stays that way.

 

Here she is learning how to play carpet ball with her dad...   

 

I had so much fun in just a few days.  I can only imagine the fun, memories, and experiences that those in our group had after being there for a full week. People often think a mission trip is about service and evangelism to other people (and it most definitely is). But I think people often overlook that those who are a part of the trip themselves cannot serve and remain unchanged.  If you've never been on a mission trip, I encourage you to remedy that!  You grow closer to God through service.  You learn to appreciate how God has blessed you.  You better see how God can use you in your everyday life, right where you are. A mission trip is not about YOU, but rest assured that God will work in your life as you serve others.

Summer time!

What says "summer time" more than a popsicle on the back porch on a HOT afternoon?

Nothing!!

4th of July Catch-up

Well last weekend was the 4th of July, and it was a busy one!  I had Friday off of work, and went ahead and took Thursday off as well.  So Thursday morning, the girls and I hopped in the car to head to the lake!  Kevin was golfing, and he met us there after he finished up.

Thursday was  GREAT lake day.

And unfortunately, Friday and Saturday were pretty overcast and rainy, so we did not end up on the lake again. Bummer.  However, Kevin and I DID get to sneak in a date night and go to see Jurassic World on Friday while my parents babysat.  Score!  We hardly ever do anything with just the 2 of us anymore, so it was nice to have a kid-free night.

We headed home on Saturday and didn't even stay up for fireworks.  Our kids were exhausted from the lake fun, and Karsten had been extra fussy.  Turns out that she had an ear infection and that was the cause of her fussiness.  

I did get a couple of pictures in their 4th of July apparel...

And you see Kate's skirt?  She LOVES skirts and dresses like this.  She calls them her twirl dresses.  I bet you can guess why.  This is what she does when she is wearing them...

 

I sure do love this girl, and her sister! They make us smile and laugh every single day.

Karsten: Nine Months

Almost exactly a year ago I posted this to Instagram:

And now we’re celebrating this:

How fitting is that verse? In July 2014, we had no idea what was coming up for our family, or when, but God did. He knew that Karsten had already been created and in three short months would be a part of our family. To us it seemed slow, but God knew she would surely come. He is so good!

And now this sweet girl is NINE months old. Nine!

So here's what she's up to these days...

Last month she said her first word, “Dada”. This month she has added two more words to her vocabulary. My favorite, of course, is “Mama”, which she says constantly. She has also added “hey” to the mix.

She started “crawling” at 8 month old, which was more of a scooting on her belly. She sure was working on those arm muscles though. As of just a couple of days ago, she is now crawling the “right” way. Climbing onto things (fireplace). She is pulling up on anything she can reach, and I’ll often go into her bedroom in the morning to find her standing up and looking over her crib at me. She is even starting to cruise around furniture. She will occasionally let go and attempt to stand on her own, but quickly falls back down. She does like to hold our hands and walk all over the place, though she really isn’t all that steady yet. 

She went to the doctor on her actual 9 month birthday (Monday, July 6th) and these are her stats:

18 lbs 11 oz (60%)

28.5 inches long (83%)

Sleep – Awesome.  Except for this last week.  We won't count that though.  When we went to the doctor on Monday, I asked them to check her ears (though I'm sure they would have anyway).  She had been fussy over the weekend, but I honestly thought that since she currently has ZERO teeth, she may be teething.  I figure they are all going to pop through at once and be super painful.  Anyway, she was cranky, but really only cranky in the evening and at night, and she had been pulling on her ears a little.  The doctor checked her ears and yep, they are infected. So baby girl has her very first official ear infection and is on her first antibiotic.  Let me tell you, we are ALL ready for her to be off of it. Whew.  She is a trooper though.

She is starting to eat lots of solids and would rather have real food than a bottle.  We started her with puffs and yogurt melts and she LOVES them.  She does not, however, like stage 3 (chunky) baby foods.  I guess it is the texture or something but she gags on that stuff.  Gotta say I wouldn't be thrilled by it either

Other fun things to note:
She will wave at people and say “Hey!”
She gives wet sloppy kisses, mostly to Mama.
She is a total Mama's girl and is getting pretty spoiled. The ear infection made her clingy but she likes to be held anyway.

Nine months sure have flown by!  This is craziness, I tell you!