Monday, September 27, 2010

Family Campout

Kate absolutely adores Creighton. You can often find her reading him books or talking to him. She loves to hold him and always wants her picture taken holding him, EVERY single time. :) It’s fun that she likes him so much. I kind of thought it would wear off a little, but Creighton is almost 7 weeks and she is still taken with the lil’ guy.

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This past Friday/Saturday was spent Dad and Mom Rassi’s for the annual campout and birthday celebration. I should clarify that Mike, Kate, and Lincoln “camped” (in a pop-up camper, many thanks to Greg and Mary) while Creighton and I came home to sleep. :)

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Kate also ADORES Grace. Thank you, Grace, for letting her hang out with you ALL weekend, even when she was GROUCHY!!

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Ellie, I promise the girls (Kate and Elisabeth) weren’t pulling Jack apart, they were playing ring around the rosy.

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Birthday Bunch (Minus Amanda)

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Too Much Campout :)

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Harvest

It’s that time of year, harvest time. Mike has been helping out at Schmidgall farms in the evenings. The older two kids have gotten to spend some time in the combine with him and are enjoying riding every bit as much as Mike is enjoying driving. One night they were out with him for 3 hours and I had to make them come back home. :)

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The sunset one night as I was waiting to pick up the kids.

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We celebrated Grandpa’s 80th b-day Sunday night. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

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Creighton’s standard scowl :)

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Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad! :)

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Showing off his new haircut.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Santatizer?

We are getting into our “new normal” as a family of 5, complete with lots of laughs and a few tears, although mostly poor little Lincoln’s, as he’s had a rough week. He’s suddenly somewhat afraid of the dark which is making for interesting nights, but hopefully he will soon get through this little phase. Things are going really well. Creighton is a good little guy, with the possible exception of 7-8:30pm when he is still good, if you don’t put him down, but could someone please tell me how to get 3 kids to bed, I’m still a little challenged by it, especially when Mike isn’t home. :) Kate and Lincoln love Creighton to pieces and still are eager to hold him and the new favorite is to give him his bottle. Before I share pictures, I thought I’d tell a few Kate stories. She never ceases to make me shake my head. This week she got very serious and told me, “Mom, did you know I have 3 favorite foods; hot dogs, pizza, and french fries. Hot dogs because they are good, pizza because of the crust, and french fries because they are squishy.”
Another conversation went like this: Kate was looking through an American Girl Doll Magazine and said, “Oh, are these things that the Santatizer might bring?” Mike and I look puzzled and try to figure out what she’s talking about. Kate continues, “You know, the pretend fat man with a beard who rides around in a sleigh.” Santa Clause…Santatizer…close. :)
Kate came out dressed for preschool one morning like this. I took a deep breath, swallowed my pride and allowed her to leave in her mismatched apparel. When I told her maybe she should pick something else because it didn’t really match she said, “Yes it does, both the shirt and skirt have dots on them.” Ok, maybe, never mind that the colors don’t match and the Minnesota socks…oh dear.
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We are loving the fact that our best buds, Kevin and Jody, Abby and Andrew are back in IL. They blessed us with a visit and dinner one evening! Thanks guys!!

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We are blessed with incredibly awesome neighbors! One morning the boys and I had a play date with Wendy and Bryce. The painters were too busy and couldn’t be bothered to smile. A couple of us had a garage sale last weekend and our little entrepreneurs were all set up selling Rice Krispie Treats. :)

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The kiddos

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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Baby sister??!!

Well, it’s been a week of getting back to normal for us and I have loved every minute of it. I did my own laundry, made supper, set the table, took Kate to preschool, got groceries…it was fantastic to be up off the couch. I’ve not had to take more than one pain pill a day and haven’t taken any the last several days. So thankful to be back to normal! Kate is really enjoying preschool and Lincoln seems to enjoy having her gone. They had a bit of a rough week adjusting back to living under “Mom’s rules” instead of all our gracious helpers rules. :) Kate and Lincoln continue to love Creighton and most of the time fight over who’s turn it is to hold him and if I try to let them both hold him it becomes a fight over who gets to hold his head. Kate is always checking to see where Creighton is and if he needs anything. She is surprisingly helpful, for being only 4 years old. Almost everyday she asks me how long it will be until we can get a baby sister…oh Kate. She also asked this week how God reached his hands in Mommy’s tummy to put the baby in there…at that point I looked at her father and said, “Yes, Daddy, how did that happen?” He never even missed a beat and said, “God is a big God and He can just do things like that (while staring pointedly at his angelic looking wife). :) Hee hee. Anyway, enough babble, you probably mostly care about the pictures.
Creighton at 3 weeks

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I checked on Lincoln during naptime one afternoon and this is how I found him.

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Creighton’s first Sunday at church – his outfit is from Grandma K

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More pictures from Sunday morning

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