Christmas Highlights

Alex got baptised! Ya we didn't think the Christmas Holiday would be busy enough so we planned another thing for that weekend. All went well. I just didn't get any pictures...if I can figure out how to get Grandma's glo's out of my e-mail and onto my blog I'll let you know.

Alex and Kinsley's first meeting! Eric had to have
a talk with Alex. :-)

We had not one, not two but three Christmas celebrations! The boys got gifts from family as far as Florida. I hope they realize how blessed they are.

Daryl got to make the yearly Meerpohl Christmas toast with a wine glass this year. No Worries there was only grape juice in the glass.

I knit THREE K-State Hats over my four day weekend!! I feel the dark side taking over.... :-)

And lastly my Christmas present to myself, I finally finished my handspun vest! It is also kinda a Christmas present from Kelly because he occupies the boys while I spin and knit. I hope everyone had as Happy and successful Christmas as we did at The Manor!

Daryl's Snow Day!

Finally got a winter snow in Topeka! Daryl was so excited that he wanted to snowball fight at 6:30am. We declined and told him we would play after preschool. That kid is lucky because preschool was cancelled and we got to play in the snow right after lunch! As soon as I get him down for a nap my snow day will be spent knitting. My hand spun vest is ALMOST done and I can't wait to show y'all. :-)

Happy Four Year Anniversary

Today is the four year anniversay of my Blog! You can see the origianl post here. I tried to recreate the picture with Alex that I took with Daryl. He didn't really understand me when I said you need to look like you are about to punch me. :-)

So I told Daryl we are going to have to take the picture again and you need to look like you are going to punch me like you looked four years ago. He did a pretty good job. I really hope some day on the 20th anniversary of the blog I can still get Daryl to recreate the picture!

The theme of the blog has changed from year to year. It always kinda depends on what my interests are at the time and what the kids are up to. One thing remains the same, if you are interested in gazing at my awesomness look at the blog from time to time. I almost never make a post that makes me look bad. Except for this one! LOL

Funny thing about when I posted four years ago, I never mentioned it was Kelly's birthday. Well December 11th is his birthday so Happy Birthday Kelly! I don't know why I didn't say that four years ago. :-)

Group Pictures are Hard

Can't really see Daryl

This one is good but does it look like Bennett is slipping..

Yep! He was. :-)

It's Official...I'm a Grown Up

Today is the day I turn 30. Birthdays have never really bothered me, it's better than the alternative! I have a lot of great friends and family who have already made this day special and I'm sure will continue that into the weekend.
But there is bigger and better news. Alex ate his first real food last night! It was rice cereal and Daryl gave him his first bite. It was cool...and you all get to watch too!

Why Thanksgiving is Awesome

1.) The main event is food!
2.) You get to visit with family.
3.) Pecan Pie (Again more food).
4.) Beating my brother at Scrable Slam!
5.) Babysitting Henry while his parents fight the mob on Black Friday.
6.) Lots of time to knit!! (I am 90% done with Daryl's Christmas stocking)


Look! My whole family cooking, except me! This
should surprise no one.



Hello Mr. Blue eyes.

Elisha can I borrow her?!

Is there something you would like to tell us about? LOL

Daryl and Aunt Sofia playing peek a boo!

Sorry Grandma! I didn't get a picture with your eyes open. I wanted to show the world were Alex got his blue eyes!!

Weekend Pass

Daryl had a good day so he got a frosty!
It was a Mommy and Daryl date, no baby and no dad!

 This weekend I had a great time being a chaperone for some county youth to Rock Springs 4-H Center. I had a great time trying to keep up with them from speakers to snack times and a dance. But right now (9:20pm) I'm exhausted!!
This weekend was the first time I had been away from Baby Alex overnight. Good thing the kids were keeping me very busy, I didn't have a chance to be sad.
Alex did fine with Daryl and Dad but he learned how to scream while I was gone. He just gives a little scream and then a big smile! A new way to get our attention.

 I had a lot of time to knit this weekend while I was away. The yarn for this shawl is so pretty that every time I pulled out the project it got lots of ohs and ahs. I appreciate that. The encouragement from others on how good it looks is about the only thing keeping me going.
It's hard to tell how much bigger it is getting because it stays scrunched up on a circular needle.
Trust me, I've been working on it a lot!

After knitting for five month the ball of
yarn is STILL as big as Alex's head.

Cute Story

This morning while he was eating his oatmeal Daryl and I had this exchange.
Daryl-"Mom when I'm in Heaven will you still love me?"
Me-"Yes! When you are in  Heaven will you still love me?"
Daryl-"Yes!...Mom, let's just go to the same Heaven. Ok?"
Me-"Sounds good Daryl."
Kelly was at the stove cooking and he was smiling as big as I was. :-)


Snapped this picture a couple of weeks ago
at church. It is rare when Daryl will actually
pray during the service because he is four
and usually needs to wiggle!



We are going to be broke!



Kelly reading bedtime stories to the boys

  If you are wondering if Daryl's nighttime antics are getting any better, they are. Once Halloween was over he was still fighting us going to bed and getting up in the middle of the night and wanting to sleep in our bed.
This might sound like typical four year old behaviour but Daryl has always been an excellent sleeper.
Wednesday last week Daryl was struggling again at bedtime. The first time we had to go back to his room (9pm) we closed his door. This upset him but he eventually fell asleep.

The second time we had to go into his room (11:30pm) we told him no snacks the next day. The way he loves a snack you would have thought that was going to work.

The third time we had to go into his room (11:45pm) we took away breakfast. **Before you look up the number for Topeka SRS Daryl eats breakfast twice everyday. Once at home and again when he gets to pre-school. It's not that weird when you think about how little he eats at dinner.**
When we took away breakfast we also told Daryl that if we had to go into his room again, when he got home from school he would be spending the rest of the night playing in his room. That seemed to do it and he finally slept for the rest of the night.


Alex patiently waiting for his new friend to
come out and play. Will it be a boy or a
girl? We will find out very soon!

 The only problem with the take-something-away approach is Kelly and I have to write down what all Daryl can't do so we can follow through. It is a lot of work for us and it hasn't worked that well. So on Thursday after no snack and no breakfast we were nearing bedtime again. We told Daryl all the same things that happened the night before would happen again if he didn't stay asleep in his bed. Then just for fun I said, "If you don't make a peep after we say goodnight to you I'll give you a quarter in the morning." Daryl's eyes got really big and you could tell he was thinking about all those machines at the mall that give you a prize for a quarter. He asked me if I was joking and I told him I was not.
Tada, he slept through the night and so did Kelly and I! Frankly, it was the best quarter I ever spent and a dime or nickle works just as well!! Yay!!

Alex at three and a half months is full of smiles! He likes to babble right now and will hold a whole conversation with you. He will also try to nurse off of your chin so beware if you hold him close to your face. Daryl really likes it when Alex starts sucking on his cheek, he thinks it is the funniest thing ever. I agree!

Holy Moly It's November

If you are like me the Holiday season is sneaking up on you. Boo! It's here!
Kelly and I do a monthly budget every month and I was unprepared to put in the Christmas line item.
But that is why we do it.
Last weekend we were lucky enough to be in San Diego to witness the wedding of our friends Doug and Breanna. Congratulations to them and thank you for putting together such a great time for all of your out of town friends. That was our vacation this year and it was awesome!

 Kelly had a better view than Alex and I of the nuptials. He was standing up with the groom while Alex and I were in the back row in case we had to make an escape. Fortunately, Alex slept through the entire ceremony!









Daryl stayed in the Central time zone for the long weekend. He was not sad at all to be with Aunt Barb and Grandpa and Grandma Meerpohl.
Kelly and I were true to our word and Daryl did not trick-or-treat this year. He struggled earlier in the month with his behavior and he flat out lost the privilege.
He did have fun handing out the candy with Aunt Barb and I could hear him saying, "What a cute outfit", to some of the kids. He took the night really well and I think he will be ready to partake in the door to door begging next year!

 

Just let me try and catch him!

Anyone who has spent time with Daryl knows that he goes about 100mph. Alex has figured this out. Sunday while Daryl was running around with other kids, Alex wouldn't take his gaze off of Daryl. It was like he was willing his legs to go catch him and join in on the fun. I think those boys have fun times ahead once Alex gets mobile!


Daryl going 100mph

Alex watching Daryl out of a window

I'm Afraid I Was Right

Alex turned three months old on October 20th. I was pretty sure I would forget to blog on that date and guess what? I was right!
Sorry Big Al. ;-)












The good news is I got more super duper awesome yarn from Germany. I wish computers had scratch n sniff because it even smells yummy! Here is how the yarn arrival went down.
Me "Kelly look at my new Wollmeise yarn!"
Kelly "ugh"
Me "But look how pretty and bright the colors are and I'm learning German!"
Kelly " You are NOT learning German."
Me "I'm learning colors in German."
Kelly "ugh"

 I've also been trying to get a baby quilt done before the baby comes! I hope I have a couple more weeks :-)

Welcome Fall

Alex 11 weeks old

 We capped off a very busy weekend with a relaxing trip to the pumpkin patch. We got to take a hay rack ride to the pumpkins, eat apple cider donuts and chat with our friends. We could not have asked for better weather and while I'm happy for the rain I'm glad it stopped too!
At almost three months Alex is still not fond of car rides and cries about half of the time he is in the car. Daryl likes to help out by giving him a pacifier but that doesn't always work either. Alex has been sleeping thru the night for a couple of weeks now and his parents could not be happier.
Al is probably still a little heavy for his age and is wearing all six month clothes now. He likes to jabber at us and still does really good at church just looking at all the lights and mostly sleeping.
Wanted to write this all down in case I can't post on October 20th when he will actually be three months old.


Alex 3 days old

I can't say that these past three months have flown by but it is hard to believe how much he has changed. He won't be a baby for very much longer.

Nothing new here...still knitting my shawl. I'm going to really work on it this week and see if you can see any difference next weekend. Right now it seems like this project just doesn't get any bigger. I need picture proof that I'm actually getting somewhere. Shoe for scale.

Where did "that boy" go?

Last Sunday we got to watch one of our cousins while our Aunts and Uncles went to a concert. One of our other cousins Olivia was also at the house to help us. Let's just say as well as we have adjusted to two kids, three would be a whole new ballgame!
But having a large family for one night was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the fact that Daryl wanted to "hold" the baby that was almost as big as he is!
Daryl had a blast with another kid in the house and in his usual fashion woke up the next morning wondering where "that boy" went.

Just in time for cold weather I got Alex a baby hat knit. Poor second child is not getting nearly as much knitted love as his older brother did. He might think that is OK when he gets older. ;-) The only reason he does not look THRILLED in this picture is because I finished it right after he finished his nighttime bottle. So he is basically modeling it asleep!
This morning he smiled when he was wearing it but of course I didn't have my camera.

Update!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since the last blog. Lately, after both of the boys have gone to bed I have just been going that way myself! That does not do much for my knitting, housework or blogging!
Here are some cute pictures I have snapped lately. I'm going to have to stop giving my mom such a hard time about not having any baby pictures of me. When you look at all the pictures I have of Daryl compared to Alex you would think we have a favorite child.

Finished one knitting project recently, Halloween socks for Alex. We probably won't be needing them for trick or treating...Daryl had a really bad day last week and he lost trick or treating.
Some kids you can look at them sideways and they straighten up, my child you have to take away Halloween. Go figure...to all the Grandmas I'm not being mean, you would have done the same thing if you had seen your little angel that day! Since then he has had some of the best behavior I've ever seen, so maybe it worked. Only time will tell.

Here is Daryl being a good big brother on our way to Bucklin for Grandpa Bob's funeral. He kept Alex entertained by showing him toys or holding in his pacifier. Both kids did extremely well on the two long car trips. It was great to see our extended family but sad that it had to be at a funeral.
 I'm sure Grandpa Bob was smiling down at all of us visiting and telling stories about spending time with our grandparents. :-)

Then there was light!

One of my few complaints about the new house was how dark the living room was. We had one tiny lamp and that was just not enough light to knit by. Soooooooo since I have a husband that can fix things I said, "Hey Kelly get me some lights."
He of course agreed to do it, because that was a reason to go hang out at the home improvement store. He got to fill his shopping cart with lights, wires, switches and washers. This makes him happy. The fact that he finishes projects in a timely manner, (most of the time), makes me happy!

Sad ceiling with no lights :(

Happy ceiling with a fan and four can lights!

3 of the 4 can lights work. This one is being a jerk...

2 Month Appointment

It has been confirmed.  Our son is a chunky monkey!  At his eight week appointment, he was 13.5 lbs.  That's 89th percentile for his age!
Alex may be our Chunky Monkey but Daryl is still our Funny Bunny. Out of nowhere this is what he said to us tonight.
D-"Paxton's mom looks good."
Kelly- "What?!"
D-"She does!"
Kelly "Your mom looks good."
D-"Ya but Paxton's mom looks good forever."

I don't even know what that means!
I did finally finish a knitted thing. I give you a tiny sock! I hope to knit a black one to make Alex a Halloween pair.

My Mom Did Know a Thing or Two

LtoR: Alex, Mom, Cedar and Canyon

This morning I am staying home for a bit because I had my annual physical and Al's babysitter took the day off. The baby is pretty sleepy so I decided to clean a little bit. Surprisingly, the house looks pretty good except for the boys' rooms.
So I started in Daryl's room and I'm picking up toys, throwing away papers and getting all the dirty laundry. As I'm doing this I realize that I've almost filled up his little trash can and I better take it outside before he comes home and starts pulling stuff out.
FLASHBACK: I remember one summer when I went to church camp (Shout out to Camp Lakeside!!), and when I got home my mom had cleaned my room and thrown away a lot of papers and old toys. My room looked great and I was furious. I was going into the third grade and my mom had thrown away all of my treasurers! I'm pretty sure we didn't talk for a couple of days.
As I clean my own sons room I realize that my mom did two things: 1.) A lot of work in my room that I didn't have to do
2.) Probably kept me off of one of those hoarder shows when I grew up
As I prepare myself for five o'clock when Daryl comes home and will be totally mad at me for throwing away his treasures (trash), I would like to say THANK YOU mom. You did work really hard for probably a couple of days 20 years ago and I never said thanks!

Here is the funny party. My Mom was ON HER GAME 20 years ago. She may be slipping a little today. Here is the story she told me on the phone yesterday.
"So I was taking your sister's kids to soccer practice after school and I realized I better feed them real quick. So we went to McDonalds to eat. I was a little flustered because we did drop a couple of drinks and had already caused some chaos in McDonalds. We were all done eating and we had thrown our trash away when I realized I didn't have my car keys anymore! Oh no, I must have thrown them away. After looking in the trash and not finding them Cedar says, 'Grandma, what if you locked them in the car!' I started to panic and went to go check the car. When I got to the parking lot I realized the keys were in the car...and the car was running...unlocked. Cedar assess the situation and says, 'Grandma someone could have stole your car!'
After hearing this I only have two questions for my dear mother. Do you take medication? Did you remember to take it on that day?
Oh dear lord, getting old is rough but better than the alternative!

I am spinning a bit. Maybe yarn soonish???

Turning the Big 4

I can't believe it has been four years since my Daryl was born!









With the expansion of our family and changing jobs we didn't get to celebrate D's birthday in August. We did decide to make a whole day of activities for him on Labor Day. We started off at The Discovery Center. This was his first visit there and he had lots of fun playing in the wood shop, working on a car and painting! I didn't know how long the Discovery center would hold his attention and only planned on being there 90 minutes, as it turns out we could have easily stayed there twice that long!



After the Discovery Center Daryl had his birthday party. Lots of family and friends  celebrated with him. He had a Spiderman theme party and even though I forgot to serve the cupcakes on the Spiderman plates I think it went good!

Daryl has been telling me for a couple of weeks that when it's his party he won't sing the happy birthday song. He explained you sing it to all your friends and then when it is your birthday they sing it to you! He was so excited when everyone started singing he just smiled and smirked the whole time.

And we got him drums...kids that have instruments are supposed to be better at math...I stink at math...let's hope this helps......
:-)