Christmas 2008...so far

Here are some pictures of our first two party's. One more tomorrow. Oskaloosa here we come!

Christmas 2008

Snow

We all piled on our snow gear to blow off some energy in the backyard. I think Bo had the most fun, with Emily a close second. Last year she wouldn't have anything to do with the sled. I think Robert got his cardio workout in this morning, dragging her around the yard.

Popcorn!

Emily loves popcorn, Robert loves popcorn, I love popcorn. I think if it was socially acceptable we would eat it everyday. Emily now knows the process to making it. Yesterday after nap we got out the popper and she helped pour in the popcorn. Our new favorite kernnels come from De Moss Pumpkin Farm. Our favorite topping is Lawrys Black Pepper Seasoning. On this occasion we were making popcorn to string with cranberries for the birds. It was fun, Emily was able to do it with a little help from us, although she did string one popcorn and eat three!

Dr. Checkup

This picture has nothing to do with the post, other than Robert and I were sharing sushi from Super Walmart (you would think gross, but very yummy), Em tried some and then wanted to eat her nuggets with the chop sticks!

I mentioned in the last post we went to see our favorite Pediatrician today. He reminds Robert and I of Santa, I think it is the calming voice and the little twinkle in his eye.

Dallas is doing really well. I guessed his weight to the ounce, he is 8 lb 8 oz, which is 5 oz above his birth weight (50% percentile). He stretched out to 21.5 in, measured 21" at birth, and I believe his head measured 36 cm. It has always interested me as a scientist (trained to use metric) that they switch between the English and metric system to do the measurements. Anyway he is as perfect as can be!

We also had a chance to chat about Emily's poop problems again. As many of you know we have had on-going issues for at least 6 months. Nothing is biologically wrong, it is just a head issue. We would like to ask for prayers for her to "get over it" per se, and give us patience to help her.

First Bath

After the bath

Emily filling up Dallas's tub

To celebrate leaving the house today for our doctor appointments we had Dallas's first bath. Emily joined him and helped too. His umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday, after only two weeks! I was going to go back and look at Emily's baby book because I think she had her stump for a month. Dallas didn't seem to mind the water too much. The only time he ever cries is when we take off his diaper, I think he prefers to stay warm.

Emily and Dallas

Emily loves to hold Dallas, she is pretty good at it too. She likes to inspect his hands and feet. Today she noticed his breathing, (its pretty rapid in a baby), we had a little science lesson on how breathing works and what it does for us! She has been such a helpful loving big sis!

Christmas crafts and baking

Cake Balls, so delicious and super easy! I made and dipped, Em sprinkled.

Gumdrop tree, best idea found on the internet this season, perfect craft for a toddler.

Andee's mint cookies, the perfect combination of chocolate and mint, Emily unwrapped the candy and broke them in two as my helper.

The ginger bread house, gettin assembled, I did most of this work.

Emily decorated.

I have been trying to make some traditions with Emily in the kitchen this year. We have dipped pretzels, made Andie's mint cookies, built a gumdrop tree and hopefully get the gingerbread house assembled soon.

The Santa Express

Robert and Emily took Grandpa Dallas on a trip to the North Pole for his Christmas present. The Santa Express (ie, Boone Scenic Valley Railroad) jumped from the pages of the Polar Express , Emily, daddy and Grandpa had their tickets punched. Pajamas were encouraged, Emily wore hers, but Robert and Grandpa stuck with their jeans and coats. They brought the book with to read along with the narrator, sang Christmas carols, had hot chocolate and cookies. Santa was on board as well to hand every kiddo a silver bell! Hope you enjoyed your Christmas gift Grandpa!

(oh yeah, they were all troopers, turns out the train cars were not heated!)

A Kibbe Christmas

I didn't want to end up writing a Christmasy brag letter everyone is so accustomed of getting from those distant relatives and our parents friends. I now find myself trying to get a little message up here quickly so everyone can see what we have been up to since last year, If that is what you are looking for, just review the previous years worth of posts.
I want to focus this Kibbe Christmas Letter on our years blessings. I suppose I could start with our recent little bundle of joy. Dallas Charles arrived 13 days early and in perfect condition. He is such a joy to hold, feed, and stare at.
Emily has grown into a beautiful little girl during the past year. Her many changes include having "real" hair, an ever-growing vocabulary, jumping, doting on her little family of stuffed animals and baby dolls, and still her favorite is reading books.
Robert and I have enjoyed this blessed year. We have both tackled new adventures this year. I worked part-time the entire year, and with the addition of Dallas to our family, I will now make staying at home my full time job. It is such a joy and privilege to have this opportunity to raise and help lead our children to live loving and God-fearing lives. I am also looking forward to enhancing my homemaking skills, and will hopefully grow to enjoy "cleaning the bathrooms"!
Robert has learned a lot in the past year running Guidepost Financial his part time financial counsuling buisness. He has really enjoyed setting up the buisness structure. He has been able to help many people tackle the daunting task of getting out of debt.
We also cannot be thankful enough for our family. The support we get from our parents, sisters and brother is too great to describe. We have enjoyed many new relationships found through our church family as well this year. We have developed life long freindships that are important to our family.

Introducing Dallas Charles

We have a new child - a son! Here are the stats: Name - Dallas Charles Kibbe Born Dec 7 at 10:48PM (13 days early) 8lbs 3.9 oz, 21" long

His birth story is very similar to Emily's. Eighteen or so hours of labor, but with this little one only 13 minutes of pushing! He is doing so well at home. I feel very spoiled so far. He sleeps a lot, is eating like a champ (although I do have to wake him sometimes to do so), and is very easy to soothe. Today at almost 5 days old he is finally giving us some eye time, up until now he would barely keep his eyes open for longer than 3-4 minutes at a time. The only think that makes him slightly fussy at this point is getting naked for a diaper change, and who can argue with that. Emily is enjoying the big sister role, she had been very helpful. Everyone keeps asking how she is adjusting, I think she is doing the best she possibly can be. She hasn't been feeling that great this week, dealing with a cough and running/congested nose and she is still doing quite well. The bottom line is we feel really blessed and thank God for this wonderful little guy.

The leader of the "Nest"

I felt I didn't give enough credit to Robert about the previous nesting post. I don't want to get caught having this sound like I run the place with no husband! Robert absolutely fixed everything about the whole leak in the ceiling thing. He even told the plumber I was really pregnant and the guy offered to come over on his Thanksgiving break. Robert declined seeing as we were going to travel anyway. Rob came back home with major allergies from being in CR plus he had developed the flu, but he still helped the plumber all day Monday, and has spent his limited evening time patching the tub back together! What a great provider.

Christmas tree

We have been working on the family tree. Emily decorated her tree that hangs out in her room. The Cyclone tree also made another appearance this year.
I wanted to get a super cute picture of Emily hanging ornaments, but she is mostly interested in the hooks... go figure!

My nest

All things considered, I am taking the hole in my kitchen ceiling quite well. I am trying not to be crabby about it. I couple of weeks ago, I felt my "nest" was in order. Everything I wanted finished and cleaned was checked off my list. Then life happens, little leak in the bath tub turns into a hole in the kitchen ceiling. I am quite thankful, I know an access hole through the nursery wall was a possibility, and luckily the already damaged ceiling worked just as well!

White weekend

We were not home long to enjoy the first measurable snowfall of the season, but It sure looked pretty on all the fields.
Robert and I had a date planned this weekend in DSM. Grandma and Grandpa came up and entertained Em and Bo, while we shopped, saw a movie, ate wings, watched the Cyclones lose, and attend what could have been my last ever company party! The party was at the Casino in Altoona, it was a tad more elegant looking affair over the last years it was held in Ames. We opted to stay over in Altoona as well to sleep in (we are officially old now, because that resembles about 7:30 - 8:00 am to me).

Big thanks to the grandparents for giving us a nice retreat, we appreciate it. I am sure pictures will come with mom's post of the weekend.

Robert and I also managed to pretty much tie up the Christmas shopping, I think we have 1 or 2 more things locally we might pick up. This is unheard of in our family to have presents bought before Thanksgiving. It sure makes me look forward to the season. Rob's hanging outdoor lights as we speak, he lucked out as it is pretty balmy outside today.

Em's song

We have been listening to the holiday station Holly on Direct TV. Tonight while Frank's version of Jingle Bells was playing, Emily started singing.
Emily - "Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle bells, (long pause)"
Me - Wow, how do you know that song Emily?
Robert - We sing it in the truck.
Emily - "Robin layed an egg... Jingle Bells"
Me - "so you taught her that version first!"

We broke out in laughter, while Emily kept singing to us!

Emily and her Pom!

Emily cuddling with her bears and blanket

New fruit among other things

My friend Fariba from work gave me some fruit to take home today. We were talking about persimmons initially, so she sent me home with a really ripe one, and also a pomegranate. I have had both before and really like pomegranate. I recently had a Minute Maid juice that was flavored blueberry pomegranate, so delish. Tonight I was getting dinner ready, I had my usual helper up on the counter with me. She kept calling the pomegranate an apple, I explained what it was. I don't think she has ever had one. I know Aunt Jen had some at Thanksgiving last year, but I don't think we ever gave her any. I sliced the persimmon and we tried it, Em didn't really care for that. Then I slice open the pom. I scooped some fruit/seed out and was putting it in a bowl. I had her try some, she loved it. After that I basically couldn't scoop it out fast enough to keep up with her. Soon enough her sweatshirt was drenched in dark red juice, chin was stained and she was trying to grab the fruit out of my hand!

...Other things her favorite lately is six. Ask her what she wants and it is always six, six chicken nuggets, there are six balls, I want six blocks
We have been trying to bounce baby names off of Emily, we ask her to repeat things, to see if and how well she can say the name. If you want a sneak you can try asking her if she has any names in mind.

'Tis the Season

The first interaction I had with the world this morning was hopping into my car, turned over the engine and the first thing I hear is Miss Piggy singing/screaming "Five Golden Rings"...

-I love Christmas!

6 weeks out

We have gotten a lot of things done lately around the house. This Wednesday all of our vehicles will be ready for winter. We are still debating on garaging the Chevelle. Robert is planning to bring home the baby in it no matter what the weather.
We have entered into baby name discussions, so we have that ball rolling. Emily is settled into her room and is doing really well sleeping in her bed. I have started digging out newborn stuff from storage, and washing things that need to be cleaned. Seems we will at least have bedding and a couple of sleepers ready for this baby.
Robert is playing in the church Christmas musical once again this year, it is always excellent and something we look forward too. I feel like I have a good start on my shopping lists, if you haven't sent me a list there is still time... you know who you are!

Emily is talking our head off these days, she says the most interesting things, and is coming up with her own opinions now, not just regurgitating what we say.

These are pictures from the first nap Emily took in her new room/new bed. We then happened to take a few days break from sleeping in there as she requested "little bed". Last night she spent her first overnight in the bed, and she is napping their again today. We haven't had any issues thus far, but you can see we have a really big roll-out safety rail!

Happy Halloween

Emily and her friends caught on fairly quick to the concept of trick or treating. The first two houses we had three hesitant toddlers, but soon the mounting candy and pencils in their buckets helped convince them of this wonderful concept! Emily went as Minnie Mouse, she wore the gloves and the ears all night long!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins this week. Emily had no problems helping hallow out her pumpkin. We asked her to draw the face on her pumpkin, she kept trying to draw on the head too! Robert tried to be true to her drawing, hence the keyhole looking nose and the wide set eyes. She didn't really put on a mouth so we helped with that.

E-free Fall Festival

Our church had a Festival on Sunday. It was fun to run around with Emily all night. She had a pumpkin painted on her face, hair spray-painted yellow and green (so did I) and played ring toss. She won the cake walk on her first time out! She choose cyclone frosted cupcakes as her prize, even though daddy was trying to talk her into the pumpkin bars. She went down the big blow up slide with daddy as well. We watched the Praise Puppet show twice, they are really mesmerizing to the little ones.

My blog has become a weekly update... I will try to be more regular, but my absence has been well spent.
1. Emily has a finished room, I think now we (mom and dad) are dragging our feet to actually put our baby girl in the big bed.
2. All of our bushes, shrubs and their roots have been removed save two really large root/trunk systems that will need equipment that we don't have. (Robert did all of this work 7+ hours and 16 bushes) During this process our home cable was knocked out, I know you are all thinking, did they call the 800-dig one number. We did call and had everything marked. The cable we broke that was interwoven with our 30 year old landscaping was not where the flags or spray paint markings should have placed it. Three long days later we had it fixed. Needless to say Rob and I are a "wired"couple and quite enjoy our Internet time.
3. I painted the kitchen. I did the impossible and painted it cottage red (think brick red) in two coats. Everyone warned me that it would be 5-6 coats if I did not prime, so we used a gray primer over the yellow. I think it makes a really nice change. Now I just need to tackle the downstairs bath.
4. We have also had the lovely privilege of having house guests last weekend and this weekend. We watched the horrible NE vs. ISU game and are hoping for better results Sat night at least our seats are good and we have good company!
5. I have officially started Christmas shopping.

Pics from the Pumpkin Patch

We had a nice little quick trip to get our 2008 carving pumpkins, we also purchase a huge thing of local honey, and some local popcorn I am hoping to try out tonight. Emily enjoyed the visit, but I think she has decided that the Chevelle is loud.

Anniversary Date

Robert and I have been married 7 years and 5 months. We had a big anniversary date planned in early June, mostly because I wanted to see Get Smart at the theater. Well I got sick, for a month.... but tonight we got a sitter, and saw Get Smart at the dollar theater! We went out for dessert afterwards. I would highly recommend the Apple Almond Gallette at the Cafe, yummy!

Tomorrow we are hoping for a better pumpkin patch experience than the one we tried last year.

from the mouth of Babes

Car conversations: It was raining on Tuesday when I picked Em up at noon, we were discussing umbrellas and how they can keep us dry.
Em "I have an umbrella, mommy has an umbrella, and daddy has an umbrella, he is a big girl"

Car conversations: Driving home from Fareway at a stop sign, windows down.
Em " That man is naked" indeed a shirtless man was crossing the street in front of us.

Reading before bed: We were reading a book about Noah, the premise is he made a list to keep everything straight on the ark, the book is written in rhyme, the letter E page says Elephants with big rear ends.
Em "they have big butts", she continues to point out that the Hippos on the H page have big butts, and the lions on the L page have big butts!

I am 29 weeks pregnant, close enough that they have asked that we fill out the pre-registration form for the hospital. Things are still going really well with baby K. My last appointment revealed that I have low iron, which I was guessing since I have been tired, and I had the same with Emily. They want me to add in an iron supplement so hopefully that will perk up my energy!
We signed Emily up to take a big Sister class at the hospital in early Dec. Her "big girl" mattress is going to be delivered on Friday, so hopefully we can get the room wrapped up soon. I am blogging in the new office basement as we speak, so progress has been made!

Picture update

Emily's first go at using her very own scissors
Chillin' on the chair
Swinging at the park with daddy
Blowing bubbles

Robert and I have been busy readying Emily's room and the basement. I have her new furniture almost complete, I need to add some new pull hardware, and paint the mirror. We are having problems designing the layout for things in the basement. The new shelves are in place and very functional, but we want the entire basement to serve several different purposes, so we have been figuring out what to put where. I think we want a small space to do everything. We are hoping for an office, some play space, I would love a place to put my sewing machine... drum set, storage, did I mention storage, while still accommodating the washer/dryer, and furnace. We Americans have too much stuff.

We are trying to keep our projects to a minimum for the rest of fall, get some outside stuff done, but we want to have a couple of weeks to sit and enjoy our family of three before Christmas comes.

Sponsered by the letter A, featuring Alzheimer and Apples

We met April and Dallas in DSM at Water Works Park to participate on Bickford Cottage's team to walk for Alzheimer's cure. It was a great morning weather wise, and we had never been to WW park, we completed a 1.6 mile loop, with Emily insisting on walking a good portion of it, holding onto daddy and grandpa's hands. After the walk we went on to enjoy AppleFest at Living History Farms. April had researched all of the fun things there. We toured many of the homes and stores that were not yet open for the season when we were their for Easter. Those not two years old or pregnant got to sample some hard cider, Em and I stuck to the apple fritters and apple butter.

Walking with daddy

Robert has been spending the last several Mondays home from work with Emily. This is part of their day.

Momma's shoes

ISU vs. Kent State

Josh and Emily hanging out in our row (not watching the game)

Emily, me and Lynne tailgating

Robert and Emily on the field waiting for the team to run out of the tunnel

Frugal post of the day

I am having issues embedding videos, again. I must have something formatted incorrectly. Today Em and I ran a bunch of errands. I recent article I read got me off my tired duff today. It hit with me on several chords, its trusting God, which we do with "his" money anyway, its green and frugal. I got my act together and made this great freezer spaghetti sauce, I have had lots of tomato's sitting around from my garden. I also made some chicken stock with my leftover roasted chicken from Sunday. I was able to freeze 5 quart size bags of sauce, and four (3 cup) bags of broth.

Go Cyclones!

Rainy day update

Potty training is still going well. She is getting used to "other" pottys. We have successfully used the potty at the gym and hobby lobby, but not the library.

I have been busy with a couple projects, I have been sewing some gifts for friends. I am trying to practice for a couple of Christmas presents I want to make. I also have started painting/restoring furniture for Em's new room. All the directions for painting wood furniture say sand, prime, paint, sand and paint... buff with auto wax if desired. I have the bed started, a stool and a couple shelf's almost finished. It started raining right at nap time so I didn't get to work on that project today. The dresser and vanity will take the bulk of work, as there is lots of detail to that. Anyone want to help?

Robert has begun the hard work towards re-organizing the basement to move the office down. He has a bunch of stuff to take to the free dump day on Sat.

oh Yeah...

We won,
ISU 48 - Kent State 28, what an improvement, we can play sloppy, make mistakes and still pull off a victory.

Can I even call this Boot Camp anymore?

This morning went well. It seems that Em has to re-learn first thing, and is most resistant, but the rest of the morning was stellar. She went to the store with Robert and came back dry and peed in the potty right away when she arrived back home.

The thing is I still don't have the hang of it. We haven't worked on different types of pottys, just our "blue potty". After nap we headed to the stadium to tailgate, she obviously needed to go about an hour into the tailgate (she had a diaper on). She kept doing the potty dance and finally asked me to go. What to do? I told her we would have to try a new potty, we went to the Port-o-Let and she was not going to have any of that, do I blame her? So how confusing is it when your mother tells you its ok, pee in you diaper, while we are PT....


Edit: I think I am going to become the mommy who carries a potty with her, she didn't go for the unfamilar looking, yet blue potty at church

Day 3 PT boot camp

Not much was accomplished today in the PT department. I had a an appointment this morning. Em went on the potty after her morning juice. We put on a Dora pull-up (free sample from Pampers) and went out. Afterward we headed to a friends to discuss a church project. We tried to go potty there a couple of times, they had a nice step stool so Em could wash hands fairly independently (this was a huge attraction). Many times she requested, I was pretty sure she just wanted to wash hands, but I can't turn down a request now that I want her to ask! No success in the potty. After nap we went back to undies, we had several misses this afternoon, mostly because we were not fast enough to get there!
*New progress has been noted though... when wearing a diaper she will do the little potty dance, get nervous and tell us she needs to go.

Day 2 PT Boot Camp, evening edition

I am considering today a total success. After nap, which was 2.5 hours long, we put undies back on. Went pee twice in the potty. I wanted to run a quick errand at 5:00 which involved purchasing this for
http://ames.craigslist.org/fuo/826819716.html
Emily's big girl room. (I think it is a neat style and will look great once cleaned up) I couldn't decide whether to go out with a diaper on or just run with the PT. We ended up traveling out in undies and kept them dry, went pee once we got home. She did have an accident after dinner, but I am blaming that on us. We were upstairs working on getting into a diaper and PJ's for bed and playing around, she was giving me the warning signs and we just didn't get there soon enough...

Day 2 PT Boot Camp, morning edition

I just put Emily in her first diaper for the day, and down for nap. We have had two accidents this morning. The first right away, I wasn't expecting it so soon, since she hadn't had anything to drink yet. and the second after we were running around the house doing laps (she had just got up from her obligatory 5 minute sit).
She did go three times in the potty this morning, which is one more time than yesterday. I would say things are going well, she doesn't seem to mind sitting anymore either. I think we might have to get a different kind of seat though, she likes to sit side saddle to avoid the little hump in the front (splash guard for the boys, I think).

We'll see what the afternoon brings.

It runs, and how...

The Chevelle is beautiful. The engine is everything Robert was hoping for and more.

Em, Bo and I in the car ready for our first spin, notice the ever present DC on the hood

Dave and Robert, posing, Dave has been Robert's accomplice in fine tuning the motor... and an all around great guy full of hot rod knowledge

Day 1 PT boot camp

Emily went twice in the potty today, is that a success? We'll call it one for motivation purposes. I can read all the signs and know when she is ready to pee, its all about convincing her to sit there, and release. I either need better incentives or a different tact. She loves wearing her underwear and looks super cute in them. I just sent Robert out for some vinyl undi covers, in hopes of reducing cleanup (seems I can't stand carpet cleaner smell right now!)

The pros are Emily can hold it really well, she only seems to go every 2 hours or more, we only used two diapers today, nap and night-time
The cons, she doesn't seem to like it very much, regardless of all the potty party business, singing and dancing I did to make it "cool"

I am giving it my all again tomorrow. Friday I have a Dr. appt in the AM, plus a couple of other errands I could show up for, Sat. we are taking her to the ISU game, so if we don't see improvement tomorrow, I think we might take the weekend off and try again later.

Full Weekend

We had a busy weekend. Robert came home from a week of work in MN, it was so nice to have him back. He spent most of his "free" evening Friday fixing the air conditioner drainage lines. Sat. Em and I went to some garage sales, I am still hoping to score a dresser for her room. Rob worked on the Chevelle. Sat. night we went to Osky for a birthday party. Sunday we did church, Cyclones Fan Fest and a potluck at church, plus dessert with friends. Now I working on loading pictures from our full camera, and listening to the sweet purr of the Chevelle running in the garage. Rob and his engine buddy, Dave are working hard out there. I am sure it is sweet music to our neighbors to hear the engine once again, especially at 10:00 on Sunday evening!

Iowa State Fair

State Fair

Birthday Post

I still cannot figure out why I can't embed a slide show from Picasa... I have done it before, but I am getting tons of errors about embedded and such. I am just not that computer savvy. I think I did fix it enough so you could see the pictures. If you click on the sidewalk paint picture, it should take you to the Picasa album to view.

Story time with Emily

Emily will often insist on reading to us. This is her reading her new book about flying on an airplane, a gift from Grandpa from the Oshkosh Airshow.

What a surprise!

We had a big surprise awaiting us today at my ultrasound.

Corn or Popcicle?

Nevada Aquatic Center

This morning we headed over to the Little Tykes swim in Nevada. Emily loved swimming and jumping in from the side of the pool. She is becoming more brave with the water. I think next time I will try to bring some water toys with us, as many other families had them along, and Emily was ogling all of them. I only took one picture, as it would not have been safe to be Miss Photographer as I was the sole watcher of Em. The picture shows some of the pool in the background. Emily is growling at me, begging to go back in. I made her come take a 1 minute break to drink some water, and she was not to pleased!