Stewart's Grape Soda

Somehow, Kolbe's grandfather, Pa, thought it would be a good idea to buy Kolbe a special treat while visiting our favorite sandwich shop in The Woodlands, Potbelly's. The "special treat" could further be identified as a Stewart's Grape Soda. Our family became a fan of these drinks while living in Mississippi (where they are made), and as many food items created in Mississippi are, these are the farthest thing from nutritious! Needless to say, 11 of 12 ounces later, Kolbe was one high pitched squeal away from completely out of control. And Pa shamelessly stated, "That's the joy of being a grandparent!" i.e. He can do things any sensible parent would never let their two-year-old do. Besides, ever two-year-old needs a Stewart's Grape Soda!

The first taste....(P.S....pretty awesome that Kolb can finally drink from a straw! Less than a year after his palate surgery! Yea!)

Apparently the straw wasn't getting it done fast enough...

Can't you just see the mischief in those eyes!?!

And of course, he had to show off his purple tongue afterwards!

Gaschen Family Christmas

The Asmussen Family is currently on "vacation" down in The Woodlands, and hopefully I'm going to use some of this time to get caught up on a few blog posts! Last weekend, back in Lubbock, we had a great time reuniting with all of the Gaschen Family. (this is my mom's side of the family) All seven of her siblings were in town to meet up for the weekend and celebrate. We had a lot of fun attending mass together on Saturday night, followed by a good portion of the baby-less crowd going to my Uncle David's concert at the Cactus Theater. (In other words, not Mark and me.) On Sunday we met up for lunch at Orlando's and then headed to my Uncle Paul and Aunt Pam's house for an afternoon of good ol' fashion fun.

Because my hands are usually full with one baby or another, I didn't get many pictures, but shortly before the night ended, I managed to snap a few of Kolbe with his new love, Molly, and then several of Kolbe and Reagan's first experience with bunk beds. Kolbe was totally fascinated and his cousins were eager to show him how to get to the top bunk. (These are actually my cousins...children of my mom's brothers and sisters.) For photo-record's sake, we stuck Reagan up there for a few pictures too! They had so much fun!

Kolbe and Molly...they were inseparable for a while!

Rudy Clause and Brooke

Kolbe with his chief bunk bed trainer, Christopher, owner of the beloved bunk beds

One final shot of the cousins having lots of fun

The Polar Express

As I mentioned in our Thanksgiving post, while my parents (aka: Pinkie and Pa) were in town for the holiday they took Kolbe on a special trip on the Polar Express. Last year a group in Lubbock started this Christmas time activity and it has been quite successful. Kids and families get to board a real train that travels around the outskirts of Lubbock while The Polar Express is being read aloud. "Elves" join them on the train ride and assist with Christmas carol sing-a-longs and even serve hot chocolate and cookies. About half way through the trip, Santa Claus boards the train and visits each kiddo and gives them a little gift. The kids even get to wear their jammies on the train so it makes for quite the exciting evening. Kolbe had an absolute blast and even now, about a month later, he still mentions the "chain" that he saw "ant cause" on with "pe-e" and "pa"!

A little brotherly nonsense...

I was flipping through our camera and came across a few fun pics of the boys cruising in their car. It seems like yesterday that I was taking pictures of Kolbe riding around by himself. And just one year later, he has a riding companion! Reagan definitely gets a kick out of this and Kolbe loves showing him how it's done!



And I couldn't pass up on posting this one of my favorite spaghetti face! Being his mom is so much fun!

Thanksgiving 2009...a few weeks late!

I really have no excuse for not getting our Thanksgiving pictures posted sooner. Maybe I thought that I already had or something. The Asmussen House has pretty much been business as usual...just with lots of Christmas decorating, baking, and Frosty the Snowman reading and watching. (Kolbe got both the Frosty the Snowman book and DVD from Pinkie and Pa and he's obsessed...)

But a few weeks ago, we had a lot of fun celebrating Thanksgiving here in Lubbock. My parents came in on Tuesday and Pat came in on Wednesday evening. We had a great time eating and hanging out over at Abby and Andy's house. There was SO much food that it provided for about a week's worth of leftovers! Here are a few pics:

Roo-Roo flirting with Pinkie

Mom, Dave, and Andy celebrating the not-so-favorite part of Thanksgiving...dishes!

Pinkie, Pa, and their precious pumpkins!

Also, while my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, they took Kolbe on a very special trip...The Polar Express! Unfortunately I didn't send my camera with my parents so the only pics we have are on their camera. Hopefully when my mom comes for the Gaschen Family Christmas this week, I can snag them from her and get them posted. He had a blast!

Happy Birthday, Kolbe!

With the crazy year that 2009 has been, it's hard to believe that another year has passed in the life of our little Kolbe! It really does seem like yesterday that he was born, yet at the same time feels like a lifetime ago. Mark and I continue to marvel at the beautiful, unique, spirited child that he is. As we always say, he's full of personality! We are so blessed that God continues to allow us to be his parents!

After mass this past Sunday evening, we all met up with lots of family at Rudy's BBQ to celebrate. Kolbe had a blast visiting with everyone and opening presents. He gave his best effort at blowing out the candles on his cake, too! While he's still a little bit young to fully understand the birthday concept, he could definitely tell that there was something special about this day. He was full of excitement! My favorite thing is when you ask him how old he is, he now says, "TWO!" and holds up four fingers. Too cute! Here are some pictures from the fun evening!

The Birthday Boy!

Uncle Dave and Reagan...wearing the same outfit Kolb wore for his b-day last year!

Kolbe spending time with G-ma

BBQ! Yummmm!

Giving the sweet new trike from G-ma a test drive!

Kolbe and his best friend, Uncle Ben, working on a puzzle from Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy.

Kolbe got some awesome new boots from his cousin, Adan. How cute!

Back at home, Kolbe tried out the sit 'n spin from Uncle Dave.

...and spent some time playing in his tent that Pinkie and Pa gave him.

He also loves playing with his new train set too!

Uncle Pat comes to town!

This past week during his move from Mississippi to Las Vegas, my brother Pat stopped in Lubbock for a few nights to visit. Since we rarely get to see him, both of my parents came up for the visit too. It was so good to see Pat! Even though they haven't seen him in a long time, both Kolbe and Reagan took to him right away. Kolbe had a blast playing with Pat in the backyard. Hopefully we will be able to have him back in Lubbock for Thanksgiving or Christmas...or even better...both! The boys also had a blast playing with Pinkie and Pa while they were staying here. They sure do love and miss their grandbabies! Come back soon, Uncle P!

Happy Halloween!

Mark, the boys and I had a ton of fun yesterday for Halloween! First, we headed up to the hospital in the morning to visit Mark's dad. He and all the nurses in the nursery loved seeing the boys all dressed up. After lunch, we headed over to Mandi and Joe's house to watch the Tech game. Luckily, the Red Raiders were able to pull off another win! After, we picked up Mark's mom and went up to Monterey Church of Christ where the rest of Mark's family was checking out their "trunk or treat". Finally, we headed over to Abby and Andy's house to show off the boys costumes one last time. Reagan wore the Abu monkey suit that my mom made for Kolbe last year and Kolbe wore an Aladdin costume that I made for him this fall. They looked too cute together! (Although, it was nearly impossible to get a pic of them at the same time!)

Needless to say, Kolbe had his share of sugar...

Is it just me or is the pet monkey just as big as the owner???

The Asmussen Men

Grubby Little Red Raider

Even though Mark and I don't have season tickets (or any kind of tickets, for that matter) to the Tech games, we have made it a habit of going down to the tailgate that our friends have set up prior to each home game. Mark and I enjoy getting to hang out with other adults and Kolbe loves running around with all the big guys, especially his best friend, Ben. He follows "Uncle" Ben around like a loyal puppy! Reagan usually just gets passed around amongst the ladies!

This past weekend, our good friends Jared and Katie were in town for the game too. A lovely professional camera that is probably worth more than all of my possessions combined was given to them as a baby gift recently. The each took a little time to shoot a few pics of Kolbe and they all turned out really well! These are the best pics I think we've ever seen of him! Too bad he was a grubby mess from eating chips and cookies! Thanks again to Jared and Katie for these awesome pictures of our little Red Raider. Here are my favorites:

Rudy's Favorite Restaurant

Since Reagan's little nickname (Rudy) has seemed to stick, we couldn't resist getting a shot of him enjoying his sure-to-be-favorite restaurant! Now if only we could find a place called "Kolbe's"!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Around this time of the year, our whole house seems to be filled with sniffles and sneezes. Luckily, none of us have come down with the flu or anything (make the sign of the cross), but the seasonal allergies always tend to get the best of us until the first good freeze. One fun part is that just like Kolbe when he was around this age, Reagan is fascinated with sneezes. Typically, if any one of us fires off a round, Reagan will giggle and giggle. Today during lunch I started sneezing and Reagan enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue on with my pretend sneezes just so I could catch it on film. I just love laughing babies!

Enjoying the Fall Weather

The boys and I have really been enjoying the wonderful fall weather. In true Lubbock fashion, some days it gets back up in the 80s and others are down in the 60s, but we know that it won't be long until the cold weather comes so we're taking it while we can! We have spent lots of time hanging out in the yard, at the park, on walks, or in the garage when it's too windy.

Last Christmas, Kolbe received a big red wagon for Christmas from his Grandma. Since day one he has loved it, but after Reagan was born, it was kind of impossible to take both of them on a walk in it. Now that Reagan can not only sit up, but crawl, pull up, and do various other acrobatics as well, I figured it was time to give the wagon a try. Even though his feet still don't touch the floor board, he LOVED it and was able to hold himself up the whole time! I can tell that both of the boys love the openness of the wagon and love feeling the cool breeze blow by. (ok, ok...wind. We all know Lubbock doesn't have breeze!)

David vs. Goliath...and a new blog!

Oh, the joy of having boys! As Kolbe rapidly approaches two and Reagan steadily becomes more and more of a "real" person (in Kolbe's eyes), it's been interesting (to say the least) to witness their "typical male" interactions. Mark and I have been struggling somewhat to teach Kolbe when it's appropriate and not appropriate to be aggressive. He loves to roll around and wrestle and play boxing with just about anyone who will give him the time of day. A few nights ago we were playing around with both of the boys and letting Reagan practice his boxing skills with Kolbe. Kolbe was getting a kick out of it! Until the end, he finally decided to strike back! Uh-oh! Here's the footage:

And in other news, I have decided to start a new blog! Acutally, I started this blog over a month ago but told myself that I wouldn't let anyone read it until I actually commited to it and managed to get five posts on there. Who wants to check in to a blog that never has any new posts!?! Not me! So I wanted to make sure I was actually going to post on it before I told anyone about it. I think I've been holding back a little bit too because the postings are a little more personal and about my "career" as a mama. (*Laura blushes and hides eyes*) After completing my sixth post this evening, I've finally decided to "publicize" it in hopes that there will be other mamas (and other people too!) that might enjoy reading it. And maybe some who will be able to give me some advice too! If your looking for more pics of Kolb and Reagan, no need to visit. It's mainly just me rambling about motherhood! Check it out, if you feel so inspired! The first posting is at the bottom so it may be a little out of order. Here's the link: www.sohelpmegod3.blogspot.com

A Day at the Fair

Last Saturday, Mark's parents took us to the opening day of the South Plains Fair. Even though it was a little hotter than we thought it was going to be, we had a blast! Kolbe got to see all kinds of animals and got to ride on lots of fun rides. Reagan slept through a good portion of it and Mark and I got to enjoy some of the delicious (though not so nutritious!) fair food! Thanks again to G-ma and Grandpa for such a fun day! Here are some pictures of all the fun:

All the boys posed with their baseball hats on.

We're ready to take on the fair!

This guy looked just like Donkey from Shrek.

Kolbe didn't know what to think about the miniature goats. He definitely didn't want to touch!