The Scherms

Home Sweet Home away from home!

2011-10-23T00:40:00.006-04:00

We have now been living at the Staybridge Suites for a little more than 2 months. While living in a 2 bedroom suite with 2 adults, 3 kids (3 and under), 2 cats and 2 fish has lots of challenges, we have enjoyed the Staybridge Suites for lots of reasons!! They definitely treat us like family!

Perks of being kicked out of our house (due to flooding):

Friendly staff, who really aims to please!

Hot breakfast everyday! (If you get up in time:)

Dinner 3 nights a week (This is what I will miss most)

Maid-service once a week and trash removal DAILY!!

TV and cable (we don't have a TV at home)

The fun of riding an elevator everyday (for the kids)

A ride to and from the airport (we both travel a lot for work)

Location to church and work is closer

I will not list all the challenges, but I'll hit the highlights:

All the kids sleeping in the same room (which now works out great most of the time)

Trying to get 3 kids out the door, down the hall, in the elevator, out the door and in the car without loosing someone or getting hit by a car.

Not have an oven (or much kitchen space)

Having people above us and trying to make the kids understand we have someone below us!

ALL that to say the Staybridge Suites-Chantilly is an awesome place to stay (or live)!! We will definitely miss them when we go home! THANKS FOR HAVING US!!!

Stina 2 word sentence and Petra rolling over!

2011-03-27T00:03:00.004-04:00

Stina said her first sentence a few weeks ago and her second yesterday! Her first sentence was "I sit"! She says this when she wants to sit somewhere, especially in your lap!
Her second sentence is "carry you"! She just started yesterday holding my leg and looking up at me saying, "carry you"! How can I resist!! She is so cute!
Funny and sad to me is that at her age Lars really wanted to be carried all the time too, but he was SO heavy (35+ pounds) I would always try to get him to walk. When Stina (24 pounds) asks to be picked up, I just pick her up!

Petra started rolling over from her back to her stomach a few weeks ago! Now if you lay her on her back she will be on her stomach in minutes! The bad thing is she can't roll from her stomach to her back. She gets really frustrated, when she is stuck on her stomach. It's only a matter of time now. I know she will be crawling now before we know it!

These kids really do grow too fast!!

Camping in Denial

2011-03-25T16:04:00.003-04:00

We have had mild colds this week, runny nose, fussiness... you know how that goes. In an effort to not spread it and hopefully end it, we have stayed home. Lars and Stina are in denial that it's cold out and ask all day if we can go to the beach or go outside and swing! We have been building lots of tents and tunnels and pretending to be wild animals!!

They are really ferocious! Watch out!!

Bonus pics: Stina going to the beach and Lars showing how he really feels about his sisters!!

Petra is 6 months old and eating!!

2011-02-24T16:29:00.002-05:00

These pics were taken the first time Petra had rice cereal. She is now eating pears and mangos too!! She has some good examples to follow!!

They must be Scandinavian...or Cajun! :)

2011-01-15T17:06:00.004-05:00

The question of the century for this household is "What's for dinner?"!! No one ever wants to decide! The actual cooking is not ever really a problem, since both Karl and I like to cook, but WHAT to make!! Recently, we have been having lots of blackened fish, Mahi Mahi mostly.

We have offered the Lars fish in the past, but he was never a huge fan of it. Until last week! Now it's his favorite food!! I might also add that for the past 6 months or so Lars has decided to be picky and now all of a sudden he has returned to eating us out of house and home! This is a welcome adjustment (although, in his teen years you may have to remind me I said that)!

See above:
This week he has been requesting fish for dinner and a LARGE piece at that! I'd like to add that Stina is no slouch in the eating department! That girl can put away the food!! Her piece was almost as big as Lars' and she has already finished it! This week we also had steak one night for dinner. How would you divide a 20 oz steak between Karl, Lars and I? Karl, 6 oz., Jessi, 4oz. and Lars 10 oz!! Stina took some of Karl's too! These kids love their surf and turf!! They are only 1 and 2 years old!

This is just a bonus "eating" picture! Stina has been feeding herself more and more lately. She really does a good job with silverware, but sometimes things get a little messy!! I wish I looked this cute with food all over me!

A day in the life...

2011-01-15T00:35:00.001-05:00

A month or so ago I decided that I really need to blog more and Facebook less. Mostly because Facebook is saved for like a second! and blogging can be saved forever! The dilemma is Facebook can be update in a few seconds, a couple words here and there, add some pictures and people get the idea of what we are up too. A blog on the other hand, I feel like I need time to sit down and think about what I'm going to say and be picky about what pictures to post.

That being said, I'm going to work on it! I was also checking our blog's stats today and turns out people actually come to it! I thought it was just our parents and close friends (who really only come to the blog with urging and reminding), but apparently others are interested in the musings of a crazy mom with 3 kids under 2.5!! I will try to accommodate those of you faithful readers, who have been left with nothing to read for the last 4 months or more!!

Before Christmas, we were SO busy we had at least one activity everyday of the week except Monday, which usually ended up being grocery store/Costco/Target day! SO I decided we needed to slow down and try to catch our breathe a little in 2011. This week we actually had 2 days that we (well the kids anyway) didn't even get in the car! THIS IS A HUGE FEAT!! We are all much happier for it too! We still went to Lars' Soccer Tots and his preschool co-op group, which I call Playskool. The other days we had lots of fun playing with our neighbors. One day "in the snow", even though there was only an inch. The kids really enjoyed "sledding", aka moms pulling them around in the driveways! :):) (My friend Katie took pictures and I'm hoping to steal some from her! I will add them to this if I get them) Stina even really like it! I was freezing because of the wind, but the kids didn't seem to notice. Today, we spent the whole day at our neighbor Sara's house. She is awesome! She even watched Lars while Stina was napping so I could run to Fedex, without dragging everyone along!

Well, hopefully I will actually be better at blogging in 2011! Although, I'm not making it a resolution, those always seem to backfire. Like the one I did make, going to bed before midnight, everynight! It's January 15th and I haven't gone to bed before midnight yet!

Petra Jilanna Scherm

2010-09-24T15:33:00.004-04:00

Baby Scherm 3.0 has been successfully launched.

Petra Jilanna Scherm was born on 9/24/2010 @ 6:42 AM.

6 lb 15 oz

19 3/4 in
Mom and Baby are doing well.

Baby Scherm 3.0 is ALMOST here!!!

2010-09-23T16:52:00.003-04:00

We are going to the hospital tonight for Baby Scherm 3.0 to be induced!!

Please pray for a safe, healthy and SPEEDY delivery!!

We will update with photos once she arrives!!

Thanks,
Karl, Jessi, Lars and Stina

P.S. If you are thinking to yourself didn't they just have a baby? YES!! Stina is 14 months old today and Lars was 2 in April! :):)

Been up to lately...

2010-06-29T17:23:00.006-04:00

This is a little scattered, but I thought I'd try to catch up since our last post.

We have been so busy this Summer already! We finished off the Spring with a visit to the National Zoo with our friends, the Gates and Youngs. This has now become an annual event which is SO fun! Not to mention that still today (almost 3 months later) if you ask Lars what he did today he says, "Monkey, Elephant, Tiger". I think he likes the Zoo a little:) We have been to 2 other zoos since then, the Dallas Zoo and this week the Reston Zoo. Both of which we had a great time at too! If you live near Dallas you should go to the new exhibit there it's awesome! You can actually feed giraffes! Thanks Wallings for coming out in the heat with your new baby, Ace!

We kicked off the Summer, Memorial Day weekend with my sister Jenni's wedding to the wonderful Mr. Todd Singletary! We are very excited to have him in our family! (All the pics after this are from Jenni's wedding).

Staying Busy!

2010-04-06T11:02:00.005-04:00

Lots has been going on around here lately!! I apologize that I have become such a slacker with this blog. It is so easy to just pictures on Facebook and call it a day, I haven't been posting on here much.
The biggest news is we are expecting Baby 3.0 September 25th!! We have decided this time that we will find out the sex AND tell people. The first time, Lars, we didn't find out at all; second time, Stina, Karl and I knew, but we didn't tell anyone; so this time figured it was only fair to find out and tell:):) I'm sure that most of you will be very happy with this choice!
For those of you who are thinking "Didn't they just have a baby?", YES! Our kids are all going to be really close together! Lars and Stina are 15.5 months apart and Stina and baby 3.0 will be 14 months apart!!

Lars is now a big 2 year old!! Not that anyone ever thought of him as small:)! His birthday was Easter Sunday, April 4th. We had a Veggie Tales birthday party for him on Saturday. While he was very excited to see "Bob", his cake, I think we probably should have had a CARS birthday! The mostly got cars and he has been playing with them constantly since he opened them!
He is a great big brother! He loves for Stina to sit in his lap and watch videos with him. If we go anywhere in the car, he always wants to make sure that she is in there too! He loves to play with Cars, trains, the water table and now Easter eggs:):) He is a joy and delight to be around!!

Stina is now 8 months old! I can't believe how the time flies!! She is so fun and happy!!! She has just started clapping and waving bye-bye! She also says, "Da-da" now! :) She seems like she really wants to crawl, but hasn't quite got the hang of it. She loves to put anything in her mouth! She has 2 teeth on the bottom and is working on more!! She just adores Lars. I hope they always care for each other like they do now!!:)

Returning from Atlanta!!

2010-01-18T23:34:00.005-05:00

I apologize for not blogging in so long. Poor Stina is not getting the internet exposure her brother got! I still feel like I'm getting used to having 2 kids, but it's fun! Now on to the story at hand.

Saturday, we were returning from a week in Atlanta. I had to work a conference and Karl had to be in Florida for work, so my sister Jenni GRACIOUSLY volunteered to come with me and babysit, in a hotel no less! Not only did she come to Atlanta, she flew to D.C. and made the whole round trip with me! I don't know anyone that nice!!
Saturday I wrapped up the conference at the hotel, while Jenni took Lars and Stina to her future in-laws (Todd's parents) for the day. I arrived there to pick them up and needed to repack a few things. Lars was being unusually clingy cause I had been leaving him all week, I thought. Come to find out he was being clingy cause he didn't feel well. A few minutes into packing Lars was crying and then projected vomit ALL over me. I kinda panicked and called Jenni over, but her "father-in-law" came over. I just asked for Jenni and said Lars had thrown up all over me, he said, YES he did and went to get Jenni. We changed out of those clothes, while Todd's mom hand washed our clothes and put them in the dryer. We had to leave the house in 45 minutes so we wouldn't miss our flight. We sat down at the table to eat quickly when Lars insisted on sitting in my lap. A few minutes later I was covered in vomit again! Put clean clothes on and rushed everything into the car. We really needed to drop something off at FedEx and put gas in the car, but as we got closer to the airport we realized we didn't have time for either of these things! Plus, on the way Lars again threw up all over himself in the car! We got to the airport, I let Jenni out of the car with Stina in a baby carrier and all of our bags to be checked, 5 total, miraculously they let her check them all! I drove over to the Rental car return with Lars sleeping in the backseat. Knowing we would never make it to the plane on time if we took the normal transit system back, I asked to rental car lady if she would drive Lars and I back over there. Thankfully, she agreed! We got back over to the terminal. I got out carrying Lars (with throw up on him:), his carseat and my carry-on bag, unknowingly headed in the wrong direction. A VERY nice man who worked at the airport asked if I needed help, don't know what gave him that clue!:):) So he carried the carseat and bag while I had Lars. We ran through the airport and made it to the gate just as they would doing the final boarding call. Jenni actually was behind us with Stina cause she had gone to the wrong security line, which the airport man saved me from!

So, we actually made it on the plane, much to Karl and Todd's surprise. Todd was already making arrangements for his parents to come back and get us, cause there was "no way" we would make it!
On the plane we were surrounded by men who were thankfully all fathers and understood how difficult it is to travel with kids! After take-off with both kids screaming, Lars decided to throw up on me yet again! The rest of the flight was relatively uneventful. Stina cried a little cause she was hungry, but no biggy. We are finally on the ground and they tell us we have to wait for them to bring stairs so we can get off the plane. Everyone was already standing in the aisle and you guessed it, Lars threw up all over me again! It was quite dramatic since everyone was watching and wanted to help! It was 45 minutes before they came with the stairs, so even though I was sitting there soaking wet, others had it worse cause they missed international connections!
Karl, is there waiting for us. He takes all the bags, the sick child and then we realize Stina's carseat is not there. At this point we are laughing cause we are wondering what else can go wrong. After another 45 minutes of paperwork and locating the carseat (which is still in Atlanta) we get a loner and we are on our way! Lars of course had to throw up one more time, just to make it an exciting trip home!
We made it all in one piece and even received Stina's carseat back the next morning. The only thing missing is a small back cushion from Lars' carseat. AND of course we had LOTS of laundry!
Anybody want to volunteer to travel with us!!:)

Stina rolled over!!

2009-11-18T00:45:00.002-05:00

Stina rolled over today for the first time! I wish that I had captured it on film, but she was all alone cozy in her crib! I laid her down for a nap on her stomach, as I always do. Then about 20 minutes later I heard her crying. I go up to find her on her back!!!! I think it scared her, especially since she didn't know how to roll back. I'm sure she was wondering why I was so excited, when she just wanted to be picked up!:):)

2-word sentence

2009-11-11T16:36:00.000-05:00

This morning Lars said his first 2 word sentence! He said, "Eat apple"! Then proceeded to eat his apple!:):) He really is way too smart for his own good!
I just thought this picture was cute. It looks like he's pulling out his wallet to see if he has change or something!

Who does Stina look like?

2009-10-05T17:55:00.004-04:00

My uncles will say Stina doesn't have to look like anybody! We know, she is special and unique and her own person, but we can't figure out who she favors!

Who do you think Stina looks like? The black and white baby pictures are Karl and the color ones are me, Jessi.

Stina talking

2009-10-02T23:21:00.003-04:00

Stina telling Lars not to squish her! I have a feeling she will be doing that a lot!

Stina is growing!

2009-09-29T17:24:00.002-04:00

Stina is growing and growing!! She had her 2 month appointment yesterday and she weighed 10 lbs 15 oz and is 23.87 inches tall!!

Lars' favorite song

2009-09-03T17:22:00.002-04:00

http://www.hulu.com/watch/90244/sesame-street-plain-white-ts-song

I just thought I would share with you what we have been watching lately; about 10 times a day for the last week!
Lars has been watching Seasame Street clips, Tom & Jerry and other "old" cartoons on Hulu. I have been trying to think of things for Lars to do while I'm nursing Stina. Most of the time he is happy just playing, but sometimes he gets jealous that I'm holding her, so I let him sit in my lap and watch a "show".

For those of you wondering, why he has to watch them on Hulu (on a laptop), it's because we don't have a TV. We don't have anything against it. Actually, it drives my boss crazy, cause we know so much about what's on TV and we don't have one! :) We just don't have one because we decided when we got married we didn't want one for our first year of marriage, because we knew it was a huge waste of time. Well it's been almost 7 years and we still don't have one.

Well, that was a really long explaination for a short video clip. I hope you enjoy it!!

Life with 2 kids!

2009-08-28T16:22:00.006-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Having two kids keeps me quite busy! I'm not sure how people with more kids keep up on their blogs.

Stina continues to be a great baby. She's a great sleeper!! She has already had 2 nights that she slept 7 hours straight!!! She's a little colicky in the evenings, but James Taylor and a box fan are helping take care of that:)

Lars is doing great with her. He is definitely a little more jealous, but I don't mind having them both in my lap so it usually works out.

I'm sure it will be a while before I'm back to regular updating.

Here's a couple pictures to hold you over for a while!

Aug 1st, Stina Smiled!

Aug 14th, Lars climbed all the way down the stairs by himself, VERY carefully!!!

Adjusting

2009-08-06T17:03:00.002-04:00

Lars is doing a great job adjusting to being a big brother. He wants to kiss Stina all the time, which is really cute!! He will (passive aggressively) try to sit in our lap while Stina is there.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!!!

Stina is coming home today!!

2009-07-29T05:35:00.000-04:00

Stina gets to come home today!! She is doing SO much better. I will fill in some of the gaps later, but she had to stay in the NICU because they were treating her for pneumonia and jaundice. It will be SO nice to have her home where we can hold her! and not have to go back and forth to the hospital anymore!!
Here are a few pictures from the week!

Stina Ellen Has Arrived

2009-07-23T10:42:00.004-04:00

Stina Ellen was born today at 4:45 am. She was 6 lbs 4 oz and 19 3/4". Jessi is doing great. Luckly, after being induced for 2 1/2 days, she only had to push thru 4 contraction cycles and out she came, so the wait was well worth it. Stina is currently in the NICU being monitor and receiving some oxygen. Her breathing rate has been a little fast which is most likely caused by some residual fluid in the lungs. They will keep her there for the next 48 hours.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouragement. We really appreciate it.

Lars is walking!!!

2009-07-11T22:11:00.005-04:00

Lars has been walking while holding onto someone or something for at least a month now, but recently he has decided to do it on his own! He took his first steps (without help) about 2 weeks ago. Now he is walking by himself a lot! He will just stand up and go for it. Here are a couple videos of Lars showing off his walking skills!! :)

15 months!

2009-07-08T22:27:00.002-04:00

Lars continues to grow at his rapid rate! He is 31 lbs 2 oz and 34 inches tall! At this rate he is going to be 7 feet tall!!
Dr. Ben said he looked great and loves the fact that he is such a big guy!

Corn on the cob!

2009-07-01T23:19:00.004-04:00

Lars loves to eat corn on the cob! We have given it to him twice now. The first time we tried cutting the corn off and giving it to him, he wanted nothing to do with it, he wanted the whole thing! Now we have to give him his own ear of corn.

Happy Father's Day!!

2009-06-21T00:36:00.005-04:00

Father's Day 2008
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say what a wonderful Daddy and husband Karl truely is!!! I can't believe he is on Father's Day #2 next thing you know it will be 20! Time has gone by way too fast since Lars' birth! Sometimes I wish life would slow down a little bit!
Karl is not only my best friend, but he is a wonderful husband! He works very hard to provide for his family. Then somehow in his free time manages to paint, build and entertain!! :) Every once in a while we let him have some time off to ride his motorcycle or go to the gun range, but he always manages to be home in time to grill dinner for us!
Karl also spends time playing with Lars, which is one of the greatest joys of my life. I love to see Lars' face light up when Karl comes in the room! They spend lots of time playing ball, drumming (make noise:), building things and splashing in the bath or pool.
THANK YOU KARL FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT DAD!!

1917 Military Truck

2009-06-12T22:03:00.004-04:00

For those of you who know my dad, Dale Hardy, you will not be suprised at all by his resent request. He has been a major player is having several old LeTourneau Vehicles located, rebuilt and modeled. As a result of his interest in LeT vehicles he is a member of a Historical Truck society. One of his good friends in the society is the owner of this 1917 Military Truck, that is currently the oldest vehicle taking part in the "Transcontinental Motor Convoy", traveling from D.C. to San Fran. For more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Motor_Convoy
Dad's request was to have Lars' picture taken in the 1917 truck! Lars and I had a great time checking out all the military vehicles that are taking part in the TMC. Lars took a particular interst in the motorcycle:) The owner was nice enough to let Lars sit on it for a photo op!
Dad, wish you could have come with us!

Big Boys!

2009-06-03T16:57:00.006-04:00

I can't believe how big these boys are getting!! Our friends Dave and Kristen just moved into a new house and their barstools are the perfect height for the boys to sit in, by themselves! It's hard to believe they are big enough to sit in a stool by themselves!! They were all so cute sitting up at the bar eating their lunch.

Time has really flown by this past year, Luke and Lars are 14 months old, Isaiah is 11 months and Davis is 10 months! Next thing you know they are going to be going to college! Now I know why "adults" are always saying kids grow up way to fast!! (that doesn't mean I'm an adult, does it? :)

Fun with the Fam!

2009-05-28T23:00:00.007-04:00

Lar and I went to Nebraska this past weekend for my cousin Jake's wedding. As you can tell we had a great time hanging out with the fam! Although, Lars has some stranger anxiety with most people, he felt right at home the the craziest people around. Maybe cause that is "his normal", with me for a mom!!

My Aunt Becky took us to the Omaha Zoo on Friday before the wedding. Hands down this is the best zoo I have been too in a long time! If you are ever in NE you have to go!! If you see any crazy animals out of the cages, don't worry, it's probably just my family! :):)

Lars is normally a great kid, but I have to give him major props for this weekend! He was really on his A-game the whole time! For four days he never got to have a whole nap and he went to bed around 11pm each night. He didn't complain, he just kept rolling with the punches, and hammin' it up! We had such a great time!!

Painting Pottery

2009-05-14T14:16:00.010-04:00

This morning I was just trying to waste a little time before Lars needed to take a nap. I decided to go into a local pottery store to check their prices. Well, as you can see, we ended up staying more than a few minutes! The girl working at The Pottery Wheel in South Riding was very helpful and their prices were reasonable!! Don't tell Grammee, but Lars painted a flower pot for her birthday next week!

I was really bummed I didn't have my camera with me! He looked so cute and had such a great time painting! I did have my phone with me, which I used to take some pics, but they are a little grainy. We are definitly going back, WITH the camera!!

You can tell he had fun by the paint that he wore home and tried to share with Garfunkel!! :):)

Lars' new shoes

2009-05-07T23:35:00.006-04:00

My sister, Kim, sent Lars these shoes that have a squeaker in the heel. Every step he takes they squeak! Today is the first day he has really worn them enough to realize that he is making the squeak sound. This is a great way to get him to walk, because he loves to hear the squeaker!!

After he was all dressed for bed and just playing a little more before going up he spotted his squeaker shoes. He brought them over to Karl and started trying to put them on. Karl helped him put them on and then he proceeded to "walk" around the kitchen, squeaking all the way!!

Ryan Marquiss is HOME!!!

2009-04-29T16:39:00.004-04:00

For the many of you who having been praying for our friends the Marquisses, you will be thrilled to hear that they were able to bring Baby Ryan home yesterday!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Ryan was born with his heart and a portion of his stomach outside his chest. Doctors didn't think he would ever even be born, but he is a true warrior and is fighting for his life, with God's grace now he will get to be at home with his family!! Ryan is still on a feeding tube, so they are learning to manage that. He has a special breastplate to protect his exposed organs.

Please continue to pray for the Marquiss Family as they have a lot of adjustments to make.

Here is a link to his homecoming! He is so cute!!

Welcoming our Baby!

Lars' 1st Haircut

2009-04-20T12:34:00.005-04:00

Lars had his first haircut yesterday. He was beginning to have a little bit of a mullet! For some reason his hair grows faster in the back than on top, so we had to put a stop to the "Business in the front, Party in the back" look. We only cut the back, but he looks super cute!
You can see in the video (which is kinda long), we created our own cartoon cuts. Karl cut his hair with the clippers, while he watched a video, ate a cookie, and combed his own hair! Anything to distract:). I have no idea how my dad cut our hair (all girls) when we were little! How do you get a kid to sit still?

Week of 1st!

2009-04-17T13:17:00.003-04:00

This has been a big week for Lars with food.
Monday, he had a hot dog and ate the whole thing!
Tuesday, he had pizza with his friend Maryn! He LOVED it!!
Wednesday, he had Terryaki Steak (Chinese Food:).
Thursday, he fed himself a whole bowl of macaroni! You can see him enjoying it in the pictures and then confirming it in the video clip.
I don't think there is any food out there that Lars doesn't like! I hope he stays that way:):)!

Lars dancing to guitar!!

2009-04-13T16:21:00.004-04:00

Hope ya'll enjoy this video! It's Lars dancing with Greg Speier playing guitar!

Karl is 30!!

2009-04-08T17:24:00.003-04:00

This week has been filled with milestones. First Lars turned 1, then Karl turned 30!! We had a suprise birthday party for Karl on Sunday, he really was surprised! Thanks to everyone, who celebrated birthdays with us ALL weekend!!

Karl would love to have a new Dodge Challenger, so I got him one! Not exactly the size he wanted, but it will have to do for now:)!

Lars is 1!

2009-04-08T17:08:00.003-04:00

Lars had his 1 year doctor's appointment today. Dr. Ben confirmed that Lars is still growing rapidly and continues to be off the chart! I thought he was slowing down a little and might actually touch the chart this time, but as you can see he went up a little more than 3 months ago!
It's hard to believe it's already been a year, my baby is growning up way to fast! As Papaw Hardy used to always say to me, "We are going to have to put a brick on his head!"

The top chart is his weight and the bottom chart his height. If you click on them they get bigger, so you can see his 33 inches and almost 29 pounds!!

Lars' 1st Birthday

2009-04-04T22:39:00.002-04:00

Lars had his 1st birthday party today! We all had so much fun! It was great to have so many friends and family here. Karl's parents even made it up from Texas!!
Lars got way too many toys, which he is very excited about (I'll post more pics soon of him playing with them). Once he got a taste of the cake, he dug right in. It was so great to see him just plant his face right in. I'm not sure what I was thinking, putting black icing on his cake, but it all washed out!

Lars "talking"

2009-03-26T17:31:00.004-04:00

Lars has had A LOT to say today!! He normally talks a little here and there, but today he has just been jabbering about everything! Hope you enjoy him giving his commentary on Cherry Puffs and his new favorite toy, Balloons! :)

Swinging

2009-03-24T18:39:00.003-04:00

Lars has really enjoyed getting to go to the playground lately! We only have warm, sunny days every once in a while, but we try to take advantage of all of them!

More snow!!!

2009-03-02T13:25:00.002-05:00

We finally got A LOT of snow! This year we've gotten a few flurries here and there, but this is the first really big snow we've gotten. The bad thing is, it was so windy you couldn't stay out in it.
I thought it would be a great time to get some good snow pictures of Lars, but he thought it was a little mean of me to just sit him in the snow by himself. He didn't quite get the concept of snow angel yet:) He did have fun playing afterwards with Avery and Reagan!

Booger-Hawk

2009-02-20T16:07:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like, maybe worse. Lars got this cute hairstyle by wiping his face down my shirt, the booger that stayed on my shirt smeered into his hair as he continued putting his head down. I couldn't resist taking his picture and as you can see it didn't bother him any:)!!

He is also working a a few new skills this week. Not only has he climbed to the top of the stairs, by himself, 3 times; he is working on "cat"fishing with Karl's gun cleaning rod. He is very proud!

Marquiss update - Introducing Henry V

2009-02-20T15:48:00.003-05:00

Post by Henry IV

Leighann and I have put a lot of thought into a name for Baby Boy. His name will be . . . Henry Ernest Marquiss V, making him fifth Henry Ernest in our family tree. Henry V was one of the most significant kings of the 15th century and reigned as King of England from 1413 to 1422. Having two Henrys in the house and a grandpa named Henry will be confusing so we decided to give him a nickname, Ryan. In Gaelic, Ryan means "a little King", which we feel is fitting for Henry V. It is also in honor of my brother who bears that name. We will call him both Ryan and Henry.

There is a photo of this sweet baby boy on the Marquiss' blog. He looks very strong and big despite the tubes and heart issues.
http://www.marquissclan.blogspot.com/

Marquiss update, Day 1- Keep Praying!

2009-02-19T22:47:00.001-05:00

This is just part of the update that Henry and Leighann posted on their blog. If you would like to read all of it, go to: www.marquissclan.blogspot.com

Wow, what an amazing day! Baby boy is acclamaiting to life on the outside and has a team of doctors and the Almighty God working to help him survive. There was a surprise this morning when the doctors brought baby boy into the world. Instead of just having his heart exposed, part of his stomach is also exposed. This is more common than ectopic cordis alone. He also was able to take a first breath or two, but then unable to maintain his own breathing. The team resuscitated him and immediately hooked him up to a breathing tube. He continues to use the breathing tube, but is also taking about 4 breaths a minute by himself. This means he is working to do some breathing, although unable to sustain life on his own.
The good news is that when the doctors looked at his defect, they noticed the heart and stomach are covered by a membrane of sorts, much like skin, sealing baby boy's organs off to air. They are satisfied for now that he does not need to have any synthetic covering as this membrane is doing the job of protecting from infection. We praise God that immediate surgery was not needed...this is one less thing for baby boy to have to overcome.
Baby boy weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces and measures 20 inches long; not bad for coming at 38 weeks.

Marquiss update- Keep Praying!

2009-02-19T11:09:00.001-05:00

I want to thank everyone on behalf of Henry and Leighann for the continued prayers. Baby Boy arrived this morning shortly after 7:30 am. Henry saw him briefly (few seconds) before he was taken to the OR. He was having his heart covered to reduce the risk of infection. He is currently on a breathing tube. Leighann is recovering well. That is all we have heard as of 9:30 this morning. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. A lot of tests and assessments will be made over the next 24-48 hours. Pray for baby boy, wisdom and peace for Henry and Leighann and for God to guide the doctor’s hands. I’ll let you all know as I hear more.

Praying for the Marquisses!!

2009-02-18T18:51:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to ask you all to join us in praying for our friends, The Marquiss Family.

Tomorrow, a c-section is scheduled to deliver their baby boy, who made it full-term! They were told at their 12 week sonogram that their baby wouldn't make it through the pregnancy. Baby boy's heart is on the outside of his body. The heart has some other defects, but they will not know the extent of them until he is delivered.

Please pray for Henry and Leighann as they will have many decisions to make in the following days.
Pray for Leighann as she will be recovering from a c-section.
Pray for Baby Boy, who will be put on a breathing tube and have surgery immediately after delivery.
They also have 2 daughters, Natalie and Ainsley, who are staying with an aunt until things settle down a little. God is so awesome to give us family:)!!

I included a link to their blog if you would like to catch up on all the details of their story.
www.marquissclan.blogspot.com/

Lars learning guitar

2009-02-05T19:09:00.000-05:00

Lars has recently started dancing. It is so cute and funny. He will bounce, clap and shrug to the music. This week he had a private concert with our friend "Mr. Bwian" (as Reagan calls him). Then Brian gave him a lesson in playing the guitar! It was really fun to watch!

Lars and Friends

2009-02-04T19:27:00.006-05:00

Lately, we have been trying to get together with friends for playdates. It has been so cold that we haven't been outside much. Lars has enjoyed getting to play with other boys!

Sometime I'm not sure that the playdate are for him as much as they are for his mom with cabin fever, who just wants to see the inside of someone else's walls:):)!!

Baby Scherm 2.0

2009-01-31T22:18:00.002-05:00

As you can see here Baby #2 is in the crock pot and will be arriving somewhere around July 28th! This sonogram was done 1/19, the baby was 13 weeks old.
We are so excited that God has decided to bless us with another baby! He truely is amazing! We didn't decide the timing with Lars, we would have liked for him to come much earlier. With Lars 2.0 (as we affectionately call him/her) we weren't even thinking about another baby yet. We know that God's plan is so much greater than ours!
Lars LOVES playing with other kids. After he gets over the initial shock of having to share his dad and mom, I'm sure he is going to love being a big brother!

Snow Days

2009-01-28T21:21:00.004-05:00

We have really been enjoying the snow this week! We had a snow party on Tuesday. All Lars' friends came over to play, drink hot chocolate and have chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, Lars has a runny nose so he hasn't actually gotten to go out and play in the snow, but he has enjoyed watching his friends playing in it and banging on the window:):). Avery and Maryn look so cute all bundled up in their snowsuits!
This week he was introduced to the tupperware cabinet. As you can see he enjoyed very much taking everything out and spreading it all over the kitchen.

Reagan was helping Julie shovel the ice off the driveway yesterday. You can see the large piece of ice she removed:). Yesterday, for the first time, Lars crawled across the living room and pulled himself up to stand in front of the couch! He was so proud, he decided to use the couch as a drum set in true "Lars" fashion:)

Last, but not least, this is our favorite dog to watch in the neighborhood. His owner is a large man and he always looks so cute in his matching jacket:):)

Random acts of cuteness!

2009-01-25T16:35:00.006-05:00

Lars really enjoys riding on his rocking horse (1st photo). He is practicing his waving skills from his favorite chair, the high chair (2nd photo). Lars had yogurt for the first time this week and he had to fight off Simon, who was trying to steal it (3rd photo).

In the last photo is a picture of my baby looking more like a little boy, than a baby :( He is playing in his jumpy, shirtless with his camo pants on.

9 months

2009-01-05T15:05:00.001-05:00

Lars just keeps growing and growing! As you can see he did slow down a little, but he is still off the chart. More than him growing in size though, he is truely developing his personality. He is such a flirt and joker. He just loves to smile and play.
We have been traveling a lot over the last month and he can always find a girl to flirt with, be it in the airport, grocery store or doctor's office. He is always everyone's favorite baby and he just loves all the attention.
He has 4 teeth now: 2 on top and 2 on bottom. He is getting to enjoy more variety in his diet, thanks to his new chompers. He would eat Puffs forever if we let him.
He is also talking quite a bit now. It is really cute 99% of the time. We have been taking him to Bible study with us, but we are going to have to start getting a sitter, because he thinks everyone is talking to him and he responds! He is saying, Dada, Mama, Papa, Baba and we think Avery (which comes out A-be).
He can crawl from one room to another & stand holding onto something. He waves bye-bye when he feels like it. He loves to clap his hands (his new way to get attention and stay awake:). He will also give Karl a high five (sometime he will humor me with one)!
He really is the best baby! We really are blessed with this little guy!!!

Christmas in Longview

2008-12-31T00:07:00.000-05:00

We had a great time up in Longview with my family for Christmas! If you can't tell Lars enjoyed himself:) We did miss Kim and her fam!!! We really wish they could have come too! We had lots of fun hanging out with Grammee, Papa, and Aunt Jenni. Not to mention the great company of Jenni's friend Todd and, of course, Jordan and Ava (our furry family)! We filled up on Dudley's (our fav Cajun resturant) and lots of Mexican:):)
One of Lars' favorite gifts is his cowboy hat (pictured on Papa:). He wears it without even trying to take off!

Lars and Pete

2008-12-29T19:32:00.007-05:00

We always enjoy getting together with the Silverthornes when we go back to Texas! It's even more fun now to see Lars and Pete interact. They are only 12 hours apart! and Pete is one of Lars' only friends who compares in height! It will be interesting to see how tall these two end up being. We did let them go at it a couple times; Pete was taking Lars down, biting him with his 4 teeth, but Lars came back with a few good slaps in the face:):) No damage was done, no tears were shed. All just boys having fun!
I will say this is the second time we have watched a Cowboys game with the Silverthornes, both times the Cowboys were devastated by their opponent. I'm thinking we are really not helping the Boys by watching games together!

Christmas in Houston

2008-12-24T18:50:00.001-05:00

Lars is really enjoying all the presents! He got the hang of ripping the paper off really quickly (if he didn't get distracted by the ribbons first:). We all made out big time! We got lots of great gifts and some parenting books which will come in handy (hopefully later rather than sooner). Lars continues to be a great kid! He has been a trooper with all his missed naps and new people to meet!
We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Eating in Style

2008-12-22T18:25:00.001-05:00

Lars LOVES to eat!!! He is really enjoying getting to have fruits and veggies! He especially loves eating with his John Deere boots on (that his Aunt Kim sent him).

School or Britax Ad?

2008-12-17T11:11:00.004-05:00

Last week Julie and I traded babysitting. It was very adventurous! This is a picture of all the kids in the back seat of the truck. We went to pick up Reagan at preschool and stopped at the McDonald's drive thru on the way home for a milkshake:)! We didn't dare get out of the car. I don't know how people have 3 kids and go anywhere!!
I'm considering sending this picture to Britax (the carseat manufacturer) so they can use it in an ad. Who has 3 different Britax carseats:)?

Jingle Bells

2008-12-12T22:07:00.002-05:00

This is a video of Lars playing with a bell we had hanging on our tree. It is his favortie thing to play with right now! His fine motor skills are not completely developed, but somehow he managed to play with this bell for about 20 mintues and never hit himself with it!

Thanksgiving in New York

2008-12-03T17:53:00.002-05:00

We had a great time in New York last week for the Thanksgiving Holiday! We of course ate WAY too much food, to start out holiday weight gain program:). Lars really enjoyed being around all of my cousins, aunts & uncles and GRANNY!! We are SO Thankfully to have such a wonderful family!
Karl enjoyed a fishing trip with my Uncle John! We got to eat his big catch. It was pretty good!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-25T23:46:00.004-05:00

We wanted to wish you all a

VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We know we will be so busy eating turkey and watching the Cowboys play football, we probably won't have time to post again until after Thanksgiving. Here is the turkey cake we made for our bible study dinner tonight:):).

Special thanks to Reagan for letting me use your hands as the feathers:)!

Ridem' Cowboy

2008-11-22T23:41:00.003-05:00

Lars is really enjoying riding his rocking horse!! He even knows to hold on & we didn't even teach him that:)!
You can also see here that we jumped the gun a little this year with the Christmas tree. We just couldn't wait any longer (okay, I couldn't wait)!! I am normally the one disgusted with people who don't wait till after Thanksgiving to start decorating, but for some reason this year I'm chomping at the bit! I've already finished shopping for all the kids in our family, so I'm almost done:):)!
We bought this tree last year after Christmas (bargin, I tell ya). It is replacing the 3.5 foot tree that we have used for the past 5 years since we got married. SO, you can see it's just a little bit of an upgrade to a 7.5 foot tree! The cats are REALLY enjoying hiding under it. We have already had a couple ornaments go MIA in the few hours it's been up!

Smile Jo-Jo

2008-11-14T16:23:00.001-05:00

Have you ever seen a cuter smile? Seriously!

Pearly Whites

2008-11-10T23:41:00.005-05:00

Lars got his 3rd tooth today!! You can see the first one really well, the second in the close up and the third you can really only feel. They are so cute, but they were each a lot of work.
Poor guy has had lots of pain, fever, and excessive drool. He will put almost anything in his mouth (including my cell phone that had to be replaced from all the drool). The 2-3 days surrounding each tooth coming in have been brutal on sleep (waking every hour to 3 hours)!!

The 1st picture below is how he feels when his tooth coming in. The 2nd is him showing it off:)

Santa's Helper

2008-11-10T23:20:00.008-05:00

This week Lars has been testing out some new toys. For some reason I think he looks like one of Santa's elves. It could be the Candy Cane striped pajamas he's in. He is the cutest elf of course:)!!!

You can also tell he takes after his dad, with engineer tendancies. He's already trying to figure out how to take the bear apart and he's only had it for about 5 minutes!!

He got tired of working so he decided to pretend he was a polar bear!

Welcome Baby Dyer!!!

2008-11-06T11:55:00.004-05:00

John and Amber (Hobbs) Dyer welcomed their baby boy, Benjamin Charles Dickey Dyer.
He was 8lb 5oz. In the words of his daddy, "He is simply breath-taking, especially with his cute cone head."
John and Amber are going to be great parents!!! Here are a couple pictures of them with Lars just a few weeks ago. Lars really enjoyed playing with them:):)!! Charlie (or Benjamin) you sure are lucky, buddy:). God Bless the Dyer Family! and we hope you all get lots of sleep!

Lars loves to "read"!

2008-11-05T12:13:00.005-05:00

Halloween!!

2008-10-31T23:36:00.008-04:00

Kids in costumes!! Can they get any cuter? The pictures above are from Trick or Treating last night. We had lots of fun passing out candy. Our neighborhood has lots of kids, so we got to see everything from Minnie Mouse to Yoda! Don't Karl and Brent look cute with the cutest kids in the neighborhood, Lars, Avery, and Reagan?!

We had a Halloween Luncheon at our house earlier in the day. It was totally mass chaos, but it was worth it! We had 11 moms and 15 kids running around all dressed up. Thank you to all the moms who brought food and helped with food once you got here! I couldn't have done it with out you!!
All of Lars' little friends (above on the couch) are boys, but you can see in the pictures below he is quite the Ladies Man!! He doesn't care if they are older, he just flirts with all the girls:)!

Kickers

2008-10-30T11:59:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen Kickers look SO cute!

Karl in Kwaj

2008-10-29T19:22:00.005-04:00

Glad Karl's home!!

2008-10-28T17:51:00.004-04:00

We are so happy to have Karl home!!! Can you see the HUGE smile behind Lars' bling? He has been gone for almost a month (home for just 7 days in the middle)! Which is way too long!!
Lars' response to hearing Karl is coming home:) Yeah!!!

Angel, Bailey and J were here this weekend too to welcome Karl home! J ran in the Marine Corp Marathon Sunday. I'm not sure he is able to walk yet:).
The last picture is one of my favorites cause Lars' is wearing his John Deere boots his Aunt Kim sent him! He is so proud to be a Texan!!

LeTourneau Family

2008-10-23T17:43:00.000-04:00

We recently got to have dinner with Dr. Gonzalez (engineering prof at LETU) and Josh Johnston here in D.C. It is always nice to get to see people from LeTU!!

Friends to the bitter end...

2008-10-21T17:41:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share this post with ya'll, cause my friend Dre is so dear to me. I hope that you enjoy the pictures and the video at the end that is just classic Dre and Jessi:)

http://silverthornes.blogspot.com/2008/10/long-distance-visitors.html

"Famping"

2008-10-20T14:38:00.003-04:00

This is my friend Sarah holding Lars. Thanks Sarah for helping out with Lars! We had such a good time hanging out by the camp fire and eating s'mores:)!! It was a perfect weekend to enjoy the crisp fall air and beautiful leaves!! We serve an Awesome God!!
This weekend Lars an I went "famping"!! Famping stands for fake camping. Several friends went camping and we just went and hung out for the day, cause it was too cold at night for Lars.

October Fun!

2008-10-17T20:01:00.009-04:00

We had so much fun today at Layng's farm. We joined several friends for a hayride, big slides, pumpkins, moon bounce and potbelly pigs:). All the kids had so much fun and the moms did too!!

6 Months

2008-10-04T18:17:00.004-04:00

Lars is growing and growing!! He is 6 months already. I can't believe he is growing so fast! He can sit by himself, roll over (both ways), stand with support, steamroll all his friends (except Sam I Am) and his first tooth has come through!! He is a big talker & loves to laugh:). Of course we think he is the cutest and best baby ever!
At his six month appointment he weighed in at 23.5 pounds and 29.5 inches! He moved into a big boy carseat this week (cause he outgrew his baby one) and he is wearing 12-18 month old clothes (they are getting a little short:)!

LeTourneau Proud

2008-09-27T19:07:00.002-04:00

Karl had to go to CA for work, so Lars and I went to Texas.

On our way into Longview we stopped to see my dad, Lars' Papa, as noted on his I heart PAPA t-shirt!! He was very happy to see his Papa & proud to wear a LeTourneau hat.

Seasoned Traveler

2008-09-23T12:26:00.006-04:00

Lars is becoming a seasoned traveler. As we were coming through security a man asked if this was Lars' first flight. When I said this was his third flight, the man said he was quite a seasoned traveler, not 6 months old and having flown for 3 trips!
Thankfully he is a great traveler too! He would much rather fly than drive, cause he gets to sit in my lap, play, sleep and talk to people. In the car he just has to sit there all by himself. He is definitly going to be a party animal!

The flight was early so I took Lars out of bed and put him right back to sleep in the carseat & TOTALLY forgot to bring normal clothes!! So he got to sport his cute PJ look all day:)!

Irish Jumper

2008-09-22T20:20:00.000-04:00

Lars loves his jumpy/exersaucer so much he did a little Irish jig and clicked his heels together!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-09-20T01:07:00.000-04:00

Lars and I went to Cox Farm on Saturday with our friend Sarah. We had a great time on a hayride, going thru the corn maze and seeing all the baby animals! Hopefully next year Karl can go with us and Lars will be awake for more than just photos at the end:):)!!!

Finley & Lars

2008-09-16T16:52:00.002-04:00

Lars and I went over to my friend Christine's house. Her son Finley is 10 months old. They had a great time hanging out together! It's so fun to watch them cause they are really starting to interact with each other! As you can see in the second picture Sean (their dog) thinks it's fun too:)!!

Not Quite Steak...

2008-09-09T12:54:00.004-04:00

Lars tried food for the first time a couple days ago. I can't say he really liked it or hated it. He didn't really know what to do with it, which is totally normal the first time you put cereal in a baby's mouth when they have only had milk thus far! Here is a video of the first moment with food. (You'll notice we didn't really "Set the stage", calm/quite, we want all our kids to be middle children, so we invited over a small audience:).

Lars thinks a high chair should be used for playing with Tigger and Duck!! He was smilling really big and I was just a little slow with the camera, so you get the half smile.

Cowboys & Indians

2008-09-08T00:10:00.004-04:00

Football season has started again! While we used to enjoy football season with friends each Sunday, it has taken on a whole new meaning in the last couple years. As you can see on the couch there's a "little" more rivalry now, running around like Cowboys and Indians (Redskins to be exact)!!
We had a great time today at Dave and Kristen Tilley's house (Luke's too:)!! They are nice enough to let this crazy crowd in their house each Sunday to enjoy the game on their HUGE TV! Most Sundays you will find us parked on their couch watching the game. It's so great to have such great friends!!! And Loyal Cowboys fans:)!!

Things I put up with...

2008-09-06T16:40:00.002-04:00

Babies really have it rough! They have to be dress up dolls for the parents to get a few laughs:)! We were cleaning out our closet this morning and I found these bear slippers. I purchased them while I was working at GAP (a couple years ago). They were a little tight, but we had to get a couple pictures of our little bear!
The picture below was taken with my phone of Lars and the ladies:)!!! Reagan and Avery came over for a little while to hang out and we couldn't resist the photo opt!!

Lars can roll over

2008-08-29T23:25:00.003-04:00

Lars started rolling over this week. Unfortunately, neither Karl nor I were there the first time, but he keeps doing to show us:):) He does it like he's been doing it since day one!

Garfunkel thought he needed a close up:)

Bathtime Fun!

2008-08-29T10:54:00.001-04:00

Lars is really enjoying the bath more and more! I think he is ready to start playing with the rubber duckies his Aunt Jenni got him (I just have to remember to take them into the bathroom before I put him in the bath)!

As you can see in this video, when he gets out of the bath, the whole bathroom is wet! He loves to kick and splash!

Growing like a weed

2008-08-28T22:17:00.000-04:00

You can really see how much Lars has grown in the last 4 months when you look at these 2 pictures. The first one was taken April 15th. He was 11 days old. The second was taken August 22nd. He is 4.5 months old.
I'm thinking he may have almost outgrown his bouncy seat too! What do you think? :)

While I work...

2008-08-28T15:17:00.004-04:00

Lars got to hang out with lots of friends this week. I had to work all week so Lars was under the wonderful watch and care of my friends Julie (Reagan & Avery helping:) and Kristen (Luke's mom). Here is a picture Kristen took while playing dress up with Lars!

These two Julie took. Lars passed out from having so much fun playing! Lars in his swing posing with Reagan! He had so much fun with his friends this week!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2008-08-21T12:27:00.005-04:00

Lars made this video for you this morning! He wanted you to know he was thinking about you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA!!!

Here are the cupcakes we enjoyed in honor of your birthday:)!!!

Uncle Kris

2008-08-19T01:30:00.005-04:00

We got to see Karl's brother Kris this week in California! He works with Jay Leno's Racing team and they were in Monterey for a Historical Car Race! It was awesome!!

This is Uncle Kris's Truck! Someday Lars will get to ride in it!
Lars is hangin' out with Mario Andretti! He signed the hat Lars' is sporting in the next couple photos!

Davis is here!

2008-08-11T09:56:00.002-04:00

This is Davis Riley McGee. If you remember the post for Melissa's Baby Shower, just a couple weeks ago, this is her little boy. He was due August 21st (Karl's dad's birthday) and was born on August 6th (Karl's mom's birthday)!
It's hard to remember Lars being that little already! Davis actually weighed 1/2 ounce more than Lars at birth. You can see just how much Lars has grown in 4 months!!

After we left Davis' house we went to Luke's house. Lars is a party animal already!! The first picture they both noticed the camera, but that didn't last long. They were both really into Luke's bouncey seat (that he was nice enough to let Lars sit in:)!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

2008-08-06T23:53:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!!
We are so glad that we got to be with you so close to your birthday! Hope the actual day was GREAT!!! Can't wait to see you again!

4 months

2008-08-06T21:21:00.003-04:00

Lars had his 4 month appointment today. Thankfully he is not off the poop chart anymore, but as you can see he is off the height and weight chart!! The top chart is his height. He is now 27.5 inches. The bottom chart is his weight. He weighs 20 lbs 13 ounces! The doctor said he is the size of a 15 month old. He said Lars looks perfect, he's just a big boy!

Haskell Weekend

2008-08-06T09:46:00.007-04:00

H.O.G.

2008-08-06T09:27:00.003-04:00

Lars said to make his a HARLEY!!! Although Karl and his family are into Goldwings, we had to let Lars pick :) You will notice too, he got his shirt at The Harley Shop in Longview, TX! We have to teach him he's a Texan, no matter what his birth certificate says.

new pics coming soon

2008-08-04T22:20:00.002-04:00

For any of you who are thinking, she needs to get on the ball and put up more pictures, know that they are coming. I had a whole bunch to put up tonight and the blog site won't load them!! So we will try again tomorrow:)!!

Sweet Dreams!

Where's the Beef?

2008-08-01T09:35:00.002-04:00

We decided to start putting Lars in his high chair when we are eating dinner. This is our attempt at getting him to stay at the table until everyone is done for meals. So far it's worked a little, but sometimes he realizes everyone else is eating and he wants to eat too (which at this point doesn't happen in the high chair).
Lars is also wondering when his Aunt Jenni is going to bring him one of those "Sprinkles" cupcakes??:)

Happy Birthday Papa!!

2008-07-31T18:49:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Dad!! We love you very much!! We wish we could have been with you to celebrate your 55 years young:)!!

three amigos

2008-07-26T22:54:00.003-04:00

The first picture was taken when Lars was 1 week, Luke 2weeks and Will 3 months. The 2nd & 3rd pictures were taken Friday, Lars almost 4 month, Luke 4 months and Will 7 months. The last picture Will and Lars thought we said, put your hand in your mouth.
(The pictures below of Luke and Lars were taken the same days)

Lars is also trying to encourage all his friends to be Cowboys!!

Sharing the Throne

2008-07-26T20:27:00.004-04:00

Lars is really talkative in this video, it's so cute! He is trying to tell us "how the cow ate the cabbage"!
Lars is enjoying sharing his chair with Luke! I love that they both fit in there now. I know it won't last long.

Welcoming more friends!

2008-07-26T17:34:00.002-04:00

Today we had a baby shower for Melissa McGee. She is expecting her little boy to be here (hopefully, no later than) August 21st! She is the last one in this photo (taken at Lars' baby shower) to have her baby and we are all ready to meet the little guy!
Here she is with Luke and Lars. They are trying to encourage him to come out and play!

We had a great time at the shower! It's harder to get together with all your friends once everyone has kids, so we cherish the moments together even more. It's also much more difficult to get things done when the babies need to eat and be held, so I have to give Karl credit for making most of the food for the shower! We never could have done it without him!!

Avery turns 1!

2008-07-19T23:19:00.003-04:00

Many of you know our great neighbors Brent and Julie and their two girls, Reagan and Avery. Avery had her first birthday party today! This was her first time having cake, but as you can see it didn't take her long to realize that chocolate icing is a wonderful thing:)!!
I just love this picture of Avery in her new chair!

Uncle Trey took his turn holding our sweet Lars:)! Don't they look cute together!
It's hard to believe it's been a year already! Besides being super excited for Brent and Julie, we found out we were pregnant with Lars the week Avery was born.