Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas 2008

Here are pictures from Christmas Eve and the Christmas morning festivities at our house! This year we started our tradition that we will hold to for as long as our kids are kids, and maybe longer if they so choose. We will sleep in our own snuggly beds and wake up at our own snuggly house, to open presents from Santa and each other. But let me tell you that even though Santa brings stuff to our house, he kind of brings lame things (like socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes and a book). Mom and Dad were the ones who gave the cool stuff and got all the credit!!

We will then proceed to devour an entire pan of cinnamon rolls (yes, just with the four of us alone!)... if we have another child, I may have to make another pan!

The first two pictures are the children in their Christmas Eve attire, Jonah felt very handsome and Aphia kept running to her Daddy to show off her pretty dress and her curled hair!

This was from Christmas Day at Grama Lollie and Grampa Jeff's house.

The three days following Christmas we relaxed blissfully! We played with our toys, we watched movies, we ate cookies, we napped, we had fun together and loved it.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Merry Christmas To All!

Kruger Family Christmas Card- 2008


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Quotes

**UPDATED WITH AN APHIA QUOTE TOO!
Jonah has some pretty funny quotes sometimes, that keep me in stitches. He had gone through a little bit of a dry patch, but lately has had some goodies. I'll enlighten you.

*Jonah comes into the room the other day with his pointer finger up (as if to say "I'll have you know!"), and says, "Mom, things that come out of eggs don't have belly buttons. Like birds, and turtles, and dragons." Good to know I guess.

*When Jonah's playing with action figures he frequently dialogues with them, like, "I'm gonna get you!" and stuff like that. Well we have an "action figure Jesus" that my youth group kids gave to me years ago. As Jonah was playing with him, he has Jesus say to the other guy, "You go to heaven right now!"

*Yesterday we were eating Christmas cookies that we had made and Jonah says, "Mom, you just make the best cookies!" (How does a 4 year old know that Words of Affirmation are his Mommy's love language?!?!) I proceed to smile a huge smile, kiss and hug him, and tell him how happy that made me. He sits and thinks about this for a minute and then, like an "Ah Ha Moment" responds with, "Next time you're upset with me, I'll just tell you that you make the best cookies and it will make you happy!"
Sure enough, we were leaving Menards last night and I was letting him know that I was less than thrilled with his behavior on our way out and that I was angry with him. He waits a few a minutes and then says, "But Mommy, you make the best Christmas cookies! Are you happy with me now?" I had to laugh and say yes, even though I wanted to strangle him, just a little.

*Today, Aphia tripped on something, fell down and started to cry a bit. I said, "Oh no, did you fall?" She nodded in affirmation. I said, "Are you going to be ok?" To which she robustly replied, "NO! Died!!"

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving in Memphis!

We had our first trip on an airplane as a family this Thanksgiving! The four of us and Auntie Liz, flew down to Memphis to spend Thanksgiving with Grandpa Rob, Grandma Bonnie, Uncle Dave, his girlfriend Bethany (who Jonah developed a MAJOR crush on!), and Auntie Liz.

Jonah's reactions to the take off, while looking out the window were as follows, "Wow! Mom, the people look like little dolls! And the houses look like doll houses! This is AMAZING!! Now can I watch a movie on the mini dvd player?

Aphia did great flying too! She went back and forth from Dad's lap to Mom's and then between Jonah and Mommy to watch the dvd (which she watched in silence because Jonah had the headphones on, but she didn't seem to care!)
Here's Jonah and Aphia with their Turkey Hats on for Thanskgiving!
Below is Grandpa doing, "The Noble Duke of York" with Jonah!
Here is Uncle Dave reading "Early Bird" to the kids


Jonah snuggled up on his new girlfriend Bethany- move over Uncle Dave!!



Here is what we did a lot of the weekend- chilled and relaxed! It was SO GREAT! A true vacation!

Grandma Bonnie reading "Hermie's Bugginings" to the kiddos.

Here is the fam at The Peabody Hotel in Downtown Memphis! We saw the family from the show, "Jon and Kate Plus 8" here!


On Friday night Dave, Liz, Jeremiah and I got to go out for dinner and drinks while Grandma and Grandpa lovingly babysat!!






























Sunday, November 16, 2008

Jonah's 4th Birthday

With much anicipation the day finally arrived- Jonah turned FOUR! Up until now, I've felt young, thinking I still have "little" kids. However, entering the world of having a 4 year old, just makes me feel old. He's not really a "little" boy anymore, he's a big 4 year old.
We started the day with Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast and then bummed around in our jammies- just what Jonah wanted to do. We then headed to Maple Grove for some fun and games at Chuck E. Cheese. He had a great time running from game to game, and Phia was quite the trooper, keeping right up with him.





We had some family and a couple friends over for cake, ice cream, and presents on Friday evening- very fun times.



Then on Saturday we took Jonah and 3 friends to the Maple Maze (like a McDonald's Playplace, but perhaps 3 times as large). They had an absolute blast! We then came back to our house for more cake (Spiderman cupcakes actually) and more gifts.



What a blessed little boy. To have family and friends nearby, who love him dearly, makes this mom smile from ear to ear. He had a wonderful birthday weekend, and now it's time to come down from the adrenaline and sugar high.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Both kids loved dressing up in their outfits to be the Cowboy and Indian. Aphia, amazingly, left her headband on the whole night and it didn't bug her! They both loved going around the neighborhood to get candy (or "nanny" as Phia calls it) and loved to hand it out to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door. Aphia had a death-grip on her bag when we got home and was not about to let it go! I had told them they could each have 2 pieces when we got home, so they each got to pick out what they wanted. Jonah also shared one with Mommy and Daddy (without prompting!)... Phia, not so much. It was a great night!


















Monday, October 27, 2008

There's a Mergency Mom!

Jonah's always been pretty good at pronunciation, and I've worked with him on it. So I think it's kind of funny that when he says, "There's a mergency!" instead of E-mergency, I just chuckle and don't really correct him.

Today I was helping get the last of the daycare kids out the door, Jonah had gone out to the car because we were leaving shortly for some errands. He ran back in, as I was talking to the mom that was leaving with her little ones and says, "Mom! There are sirens!" I said, "What kind?" "I don't know, but it's a mergency mom! We need to pray!!" I thought this was really sweet and said, "Ok buddy, I'll be done talking in a second and then we will." Well he was apparently not ok with that because he waited about 3 seconds, then folded his hands, looked at me for another second and then started to pray by himself, outloud, but not loud enough for me to hear. It was REALLY sweet!

Later, I told him how proud I was of him, for praying for the people in the emergency. I asked what he had said to Jesus and he responded with, "I said, 'Thank you Jesus for the day (which is pretty much how he starts every prayer), and for the mergency. Help all the people to be safe and healthy. Amen."

Makes my heart happy as a mom... These are the moments God uses to affirm that I'm doing a good job, which God knows I need :)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Instead

Today we had nothing on the calendar, except to bring Willy to the vet at 9:00.

I made a HUGE list of things I wanted to clean and get done. But then I reconcidered. Friday's are my only day with just my children. I wasn't going to ignore them.

I WAS going to clean out my van. Instead, we drove around (in a messy van) looking for beautiful trees, whose leaves were brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds, marveling at God's creation.

I WAS going to clean my entire kitchen, top to bottom. Instead, I made a great, big building with giant legos.

I WAS going to clean my bedroom. Instead, I did a project with Jonah and spent time talking with him.

I WAS going to clean up and scrub down my bathroom. Instead, I sat on the floor singing songs with Phia. (The Wheels on the Bus, Three Little Monkeys, and The Choo Choo Song are some favorites.)

I WAS going to clean up the living room, it is a disaster as you can see from the pictures below. Instead I spent a few moments visiting with a wonderful friend who came by to drop off something and also brought me Jimmy John's for lunch!

So this is my life today. Messy with toys everywhere. I wanted it to be spic and span. Instead, I made it enjoyable, extremely enjoyable for me and my kids.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Family Vacay

Last Thursday we started our lil vacay by heading up north. First we made a stop in Duluth to visit with Josh, Stephanie and the girls. We had a wonderful dinner together with cheers to hydrogen and cheers to the History Channel (right Stephie?!). We never did get to cheers "Modern Marvels" like I thought we would. (Sorry JJ, "They're makin' fun of you!")


Friday morning we continued our trek up the shore of Lake Superior. It was a GORGEOUS day and so we took the scenic route along the lake.


We liked that we had broken the driving trip up, into two days instead of making it all in one. The kids were great riders because of this too!


We had a great time at Lamb's Resort with the Ennen Family (NeeNee's Mom's side)- there was about 40-50 of us there.
Saturday we had a leisurely morning then headed to the Alpine Slides at Lutsen in the afternoon. Jonah LOVED them and had SUCH a great time! I got a free ticket from someone so I got to go once with Jonah (Jeremiah went the other times with him.) Well since Jeremiah was going alone this time, he thought he'd be big racer man- go real fast. Not smarty man. He lost a little control, went over the edges and gouged his hand on a rock/root/stick or something. He came FLYING down and said he was hurt, but I couldn't see how bad, so was like, "Do you need a bandaid or something?!" yeah... the EMT came over and sent us to the ER in Grand Marais where they spent 1 1/2 hours just cleaning out the gash, then another 2 1/2 hours stitching it up. He had SEVERAL interior stitches and 13 exterior in the palm of his hand. It was a really bad, jagged, dirty cut and was no fun.

Well, we were supposed to leave Sunday afternoon, but since he only had one hand to drive, that wasn't going to fly since he'd be driving a big, full sized truck and big trailer down the windy north shore. PLUS he was on Vicodin and wasn't supposed to drive with that. I wasn't about to attempt my first trailer driving experience under these circumstances (with my father in law's truck nonetheless), so we waited until Monday morning to leave so my dad could drive the truck instead.
I guess we got one more day of vacation out of the deal!

Here's Jeremiah and Jonah coming down the slide the first time. And the next is a picture of the leaves on the mountain. This one is just from the parking lot... I was going to send the camera up with Jeremiah the next time he went up, but his lil mishap prevented anymore pictures of the beautiful red leaves.




Monday, September 29, 2008

Bits and Pieces of the Kruger World

We haven't posted in a while (neither me- Aphia, nor my mom) so I thought I'd post some stuff and my mom wants to say a few things too.





Last Wednesday we got to welcome a new cousin into our family! Addison Grace Foskett was born to my Auntie Becca and Uncle Tim. We got to go to the hospital on Friday morning to see them, and then to their house on Saturday to see them again! I just love the "beebee!" so much! I love to kiss her, and wave "hi" to her, and smother her with love! Jonah likes to say, "Hi Buddy Boy," until Mommy reminds him that Addi is a girl. Then he just says, "Hi Buddy," in a really sweet, soft voice.



Here's some pictures of our visits with her!
Here's Me seeing Baby Addi for the first time!

Below is Jonah and Mommy talking to Addison Grace!


Mommy and Addi are pretty tight already. She's definitely the favorite Auntie :)

Here's Proud Uncle Jer, who only has nieces! But he loves them to bits!









Ok, now my mom has some things to say.







So on Friday we had to run to Old Navy to return some shoes I had gotten for Jonah.







Back up a couple steps and I need to tell you that occasionally, Jonah mixes up the words "dimple" and "nipple" and sometimes he says "nimple" for either one... ok, now you know this going to be funny!





So, back to Old Navy. Jonah puts his shoes up on the counter and says to the cashier, in his sweet 3 year old voice, "I'd like to return these shoes." She asks, "Do you have a receipt?" "Yes I do, right here," and he hands her the receipt. She smiles her big, dimpled smile and Jonah whips his head up to me with a big smile and says, "Mom! Does she have big nipples?!"





Now I'm not one for taking the Lord's name in vein, but "Oh God!" Quick NeeNee, THINK! "DIMPLES! Do you mean 'dimples' Jonah?" While pointing to my cheeks, to which he FORTUNATELY replies with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"





Just another "Mommy Moment" with the Jones.



Here are some more pictures of our walk to the park on Sunday. It was cloudy most of the day, so when the sun peaked out, we were out of the house and in the sun!






Finally a note another note about Jonah. I'm so proud of the way he gobbles up knowledge! He's in Cubbies for AWANA this year at church, and they have to memorize Bible verses. When I say, "Jonah, what's your Bible verse?" He replies with, "Genesis 1:31, All He had made was very good!" (paraphrased for little ones). He's great at memorization.




I've known that he's good with letters and words, memorization, and stuff like that. He knew all his letters by 2 1/2 and is starting to put sounds together to form words when he wants to spell something. It's pretty fun to watch and teach. He's also pretty darn good at writing, he can write his name, Aphia's, Mom, Dad, and he'll look up at the letters on the wall and copy ones to make what he thinks are words!




But lately he's been pretty into numbers too. We told him, "5 more minutes until bedtime," the other night. Then we said, "Ok it's been 3 minutes," to which he replied, "Ok, then 2 more minutes!" Jeremiah and I looked at each other, surprised! A minute later Jeremiah said, "Ok, it's been 4 minutes. How many more minutes?" To which Jonah promptly said, "One," like duh, Dad! I wondered if these were flukes, but I've been asking him a lot now, questions like those and he really knows and understands how to add and subtract small numbers like that!



Makes me proud as a mom :)








Wednesday, September 17, 2008

So Blessed!

Just a lil note to brag on some pretty fabulous folks I know!

My children's grandparents (ALL of them... and the "Greats" too) are just so darned awesome!

Two particular things come to mind, because they are presently affecting me!

First, my mom came out here today, surprising me (and Jonah- who stood there stunned, staring at her!) to help me out for the day! I had a plethora of children and she had come to fulfill the mantra, "Many hands make light work." And it truly was a wonderful day. AND to top it off, she spoke to me through EVERY love language!!
1. Quality Time: She came out here yes, to help me out, but I also got to spend time with her, which I love and cherish.
2. Gifts: She stopped at Coffee Connection and brought me my FAVORITE- white chocolate mocha with decaf. She also brought me a box of random stuff, including a picture that I hung in my bathroom, that I LOVE and have wanted. If you want to know what it's of, you'll have to come to my bathroom and see :)
3. Acts of Service: She came to help me out with all the kids I had today!! What a blessing!
4. Physical Touch: We always gotta hug!
5. Words of Affirmation (which is actually my #1): She affirmed that I'm doing a good job, boosting my confidence, saying that I was brave taking on twin infants for daycare, and just over all affirming me all day in what I'm doing.

Secondly, Rob and Bonnie are coming here tomorrow evening and bringing the kids back to Willmar with them for the weekend. I get to have the whole day on Friday ALL FOR MYSELF! I've got an amazing day planned, then we get to meet Chris and Emily in Mpls. for dinner at Buca!!!! I acknowledge that I am very, very fortunate! We have a wedding to go to on Saturday and then are heading to Willmar on Sunday to watch Auntie Liz in a play and have dinner with everyone. It will be a wonderful weekend of relaxation and much needed hubby/wifey time.

So yeah, just thought I'd throw this out there, because I know and love some pretty remarkable peeps that help keep me going.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

We Roll With It

We had been planning on going camping this weekend... We'd been planning it since April. In April, we sat down and looked at our summer calendar, penciling in several weekends that we wanted to go camping and this was one that we were going to use. Little by little, 6 weekends of camping got widdled down to 3. We went in June, to a campground in Clearwater- one that I wouldn't highly recommend. We parked our camper at the cabin in July with the Krugers for a weekend there. And now we have one weekend left, the first weekend in October on the north shore with my mom's extended family (a trip we do every year... and looooong for every year!).

This weekend just didn't work out to go. This week had been insane all the way around. By the time Friday night rolled around we were still "planning" on going camping when I looked around at my house, and I swear that Ike had hit here!! There was nothing ready to go camping because I was completely exhausted from the week and the pending weather for the weekend was looking extremely grim.

As we sat on the couch, talking about going, we decided to just stay put. The decision to stay home, one that you wouldn't think would be a huge deal but was, actually elated me! We so rarely get an entire weekend at home, to just BE. Since we had been planning on being gone, there now was NOTHING on the calendar- halleluia!! And now at 6:45 pm, I'm STILL in my pajamas!! :) It feels amazing. Despite the yucky, rainy weather, I could not have asked for a better day. My house is still a wreck, but dinner is planned and I've enjoyed my time with Jeremiah, Jonah and Aphia. We've played, done little tinkering things around the house, watched football, took naps, and ran to Target and Cub (don't forget I'm still in my pajamas-sweats and a hoodie... and of course I saw 4 families I know!). The normalcy of it all almost makes me want to cry. To not have to rush here or high tail it there feels simply divine!

I know that I'm busy person and we have lots of things going on as a family, but sometimes we just have to make choices to just BE. I know this... it's just the act of doing the "being" that I sometimes forget to do!

I've still been doing well with my morning dates with Jesus at the coffee shop, times that I truly cherish and revel in. He has taught me much, while staring out at the waking city of Buffalo. I get home as my own family is arising from their slumber and the day almost ALWAYS goes spledidly, this past Thursday was no exception.

As I look forward at our September and October calendars, I think it's interesting that I'm actually "planning" times of nothingness. How sad. But that's our reality right now and we roll with it.

I hope you have a day, or at least a moment in the very near future to just BE.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

A Normal Saturday


Who dresses this kid anyways?! (At 19 months, she was insistent on putting on her 4th of July shirt... over her normal clothes. AND insistent on wearing Jonah's shoes... backwards. I just laugh!)

Jonah spending some time out in the rain today with his raincoat and rain boots! The look on his face says that the skies don't look real promising.

Saying Goodbye to Uncle Richie! He's headed to Durham, North Carolina for work! We'll miss you Uncle Richie!!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Last Family Wedding (of one side!)

Daddy's cousin Nate got married last weekend to BJ. Nate is the youngest cousin on Daddy's mom's side, and the last to get married. They had their ceremony in Granny's (that's Grandma Judy's mom) backyard and it was so pretty! She had put lots of time into watering her flowers, grass, and everything was so lush!
Here are a few pictures of us at the wedding!


This one is me and Phia, and our cousins Hannah and Emily


Here's my mom, Phia, me and my dad


Here's Phia touching the baby in Auntie Becca's tummy! Baby will be here soon!!!


Here's just a random picture of us being sweet with each other!