The Asmussen Family

Christmas 2011: The Asmussens

2012-02-07T07:06:00.000-06:00

The rest of our time in Lubbock was spent with the Asmussens. Ahhhh...there's nothing like kicking back and relaxing at G-ma's! Always good food and of course, good company! We had a fantastic visit and were able to spend a lot of quality time with everyone without feeling rushed. Brian and Cristi came up from Dallas as well so we had the whole family all together and even got to spend time with some of our friends and extended family. We always look forward to going to Lubbock...but especially at the holidays! We drove home after at four day visit, and the drive home was much smoother than our nightmarish journey back in September. Driving in the evening/night is definitely the best bet for us at this stage. Especially when you've got nine hours to go! Can't wait to see everyone again at Easter!

Uncle Brian cuddling with Ellie, his new pup

Kolbe showing off the Leapster G-ma got for him

Opening presents with G-ma

Getting some snuggle time with my Rudy. This rarely happens any more and it was wonderful.

And Kolbe got some cuddle time with his favorite little baby!

My ever cheesy husband showing off the baked goods.

This little guy loved taking in all the attention!

Miss Lora insisted on getting us all matching jammies to ring in the New Year together. This was way late at night. I know...we're looking rough. Please, no comments!

Family pic after mass on New Years Day

"RooRoo" with G-ma

These boys love their grandma! Though is it just me or are the grandparents always somehow evading the camera!?! I had very few pictures with G-ma and none with Papa Jeep! Next time my goal is to stop focusing on getting pictures of the boys and get some more of the grandparents in action!

One night was spent with several of Mark's cousins and their kiddos. The boys had a blast running around with Adan and Ava.

One night our good friends Ben and Erin stopped by with our godson, Jacob. He's so adorable!

When they arrived the boys were already in the tub with G-ma so we figured we'd just throw Jacob in there too! Talk about a hot mess!

And afterward he and his future best friend, Grant got in tug of war match over a little lovey blanket. The sumo wrestler to the right prevailed. Hey, once the thumb hits his mouth, he's not letting go of that blankie!

Christmas 2011: The Hefferlys

2012-02-06T07:50:00.000-06:00

On December 30th we finally got to leave on our trip to Lubbock! For a crazy concoction of reasons, my parents took our van up several days prior for my niece Kennedy's baptism so we flew up early (really early) in the morning. After arriving safely, stopping in to see G-ma at the hospital, and taking good naps, we went over to Abby and Andy's house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of my family. It was the only night Mike and Casey would still be in town so we had to jump at the chance to see everyone and of course to meet our one and only niece! It's rare that all five siblings are together. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the moment, though it was much shorter than I think we all would have liked. Next year, my good sirs. Next year!

Waiting for the shuttle at the airport....travelling with three isn't so bad. At least not at 5:30am before the airport is crazy.

Grant and Uncle Dave

All six of the cousins (Baby Will was still inside Abby's belly!)

Partying with my big guy

Mass Chaos would be an accurate description. But fun! Reminded me a lot of going to Popo's when I was little.

It was so good to see my big brother, Mike- my first time to see him since his return from Afghanistan. Definitely didn't get enough time to talk to him.

Mike and Casey

Sitting back and enjoying everything with the hubs

I love my brothers!

Setting off the vibe. I wonder how many of these pictures we have from over the years....?

At one point, just about everyone was holding a child of some sort. Dave was feeling left out so he went for poor Wayne Dog.

Christmas 2011: The Woodlands

2012-02-05T07:38:00.000-06:00

Still catching up on blog posts, but getting oh, so close! Time to begin the Christmas 2011 posts. Though it was a little over a month ago, we had fantastic Advent and Christmas seasons this year. But then, when are they not wonderful!?! Something about the time of year makes it so joyful, especially when seen through the eyes of children. And these little guys are just starting to get to that age where absolutely everything about Christmas is magical. And I suppose Mark and I have re-entered the phase of it being magical, just in a completely different way! And as a mother, celebrating the birth of a baby is always special...considering we get to ponder, reflect upon, and celebrate the birth of Christ is a true blessing of our faith.

Though it was supposed to be an Asmussen Christmas this year, we were tied to The Woodlands for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because Mark was on-call. Luckily, my parents were still in town and my two youngest brothers came to see them so we certainly weren't alone. We had a fun Christmas Eve attending mass, eating yummy prime rib and opening gifts. The following morning (Christmas morning), we did our own little family Christmas at our house. So much fun! Shortly there after, my mom and brothers brought over breakfast (Dad had to leave on a trip). It was a very enjoyable, laid back, fun filled day with family.

Reagan helping Uncle Dave open his new pots and pans

Grant's first Christmas! (and like Mama, his half-birthday!) Best gift we received all year. And yes, he's hanging out in a bath tub chair! At this point his sitting unassisted wasn't quite up to par. ;)

Pinkie and Pa surprised the boys with their own kitchen! They love pretending to make food, do dishes, etc so this was a super gift for them.

Two chefs hard at work

They loved pretending like the phone was ringing and talking to whoever was on the other line.

Mark and Pat hanging out on the stairs and playing with the boys' remote controlled car.

Handsome Boy!

We went to an 8pm mass...this was afterwards...can you tell we're getting tired!?!

Christmas morning! Rudy trying out his new fishing pole from Dada.

Really, the fishing poles were a definite win. They came with little practice fish attached instead of hooks and they spent hours casting and reeling. (Kolbe is also modeling the chef hat and apron they got from Mama.)

More presents! A new bat to play t-ball!

When I was growing up, my little brothers got play shaving kits one year for Christmas. As I was racing through Target one day with just Grant, I reached down to tie my shoe and spotted play shaving kits on the bottom rack on clearance for $3 each. I couldn't resist. The boys love them and are too cute...already looking way too grown up!

Of course Dada had to help them lather up for their first "little boy shave." I'm pretty sure I'll have the camera going and a tear in my eye when it's the real deal some day! (which for Kolbe might be a year from now, the way he's going. Ha!)

The Butterfly Conservatory

2012-01-17T16:11:00.000-06:00

A while back I bought a groupon for a set of four tickets to visit the butterfly exhibit down at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. As the months passed, I realized it was going to expire if we didn't use it up before the end of the year. So a few days before Christmas, my mom and I decided to break down and take the boys in to the city for a fun day. Had we known how cool and fun the trip would be, I'm sure we would have gone much sooner! And I think my mom and I were every bit as fascinated as the boys. After the museum we rode the kids train around the park nearby, too. So fun, and great weather! I haven't seen that same groupon lately, but if it pops back up we'll definitely be doing it again!

Riding the giant caterpillar just inside the exhibit doors

Upon entering, you first go through a museum-style section where you get to look at displays of bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, etc. Very creepy crawly! There's also lots of hands on, interactive activities that I'm sure the boys will be more in to when they're a little bit older.

You then enter the actual butterfly conservatory at the top and work your way down. Rudy was very skeptical at the butterflies flying every where when we first entered!

Thinking we were really clever, we opted to take the stroller in with us instead of my baby carrier, thinking we'd be there for a while and it would be better to be able to set Grant down and help out the other two boys. Bad idea. We didn't realize the conservatory part is a massive circuit of stairs from top to bottom so no strollers are allowed in the entire exhibit. We had it park it in the supervised lobby and carry the chunk the whole way. No carrier. Note to self: always throw the carrier in the bottom of the stroller...just in case! Good thing he's such a happy baby and was just along for the ride as usual.

Pretty butterflies!

We had a contest going to see who would have a butterfly land on them first. And Pinkie won! I'm pretty sure they were attracted to the hairspray.

Even I was shocked at how well this picture came out! Love my boys!

Riding the train! (Grant was crashed by this point.)

So much fun!

And of course they had to check out the locomotive. A great end to such a fun day!

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-16T21:47:00.000-06:00

Nothing says "January 16th" like a Thanksgiving 2011 post! Two months late is kind of pushing the better-late-than-never philosophy, but oh well! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving here in The Woodlands. Both of Mark's parents came down to visit for several days and we had lots of fun visiting, shopping, playing...and of course, eating! And the best part was that Mark was able to take a few days off and actually be a part of all of the festivities. That or the fact that Mark and his parents did almost all of the Thanksgiving Day cooking (I made the pies the night before!) giving this overly exhausted mama of three a much needed break and an awesome morning nap! Who hosts Thanksgiving and doesn't cook!?! One of these days I'll get my Martha Stewart on and really host a Thanksgiving. Until then, I'll just celebrate the wonderful one we had...almost two months ago.

Papa Jeep and Grant with Kolbe looking on

After perusing the Black Friday ads, we made a massive pile of rubbish and let the boys go to town. They loved it!

I love this face! The eyes!

G-ma and Kolbe getting in some cuddles

One night the weather was really nice so we went down to the waterway and had a blast! We ate at a yummy new taco shop, walked the riverwalk, rolled down the steep hill behind the convention center, watched the Christmas fountain display, and wandered through Hubbell and Hudson, a unique market store.

Such a fun night!

Rolling down the hill. Poor Grant was just in there for the picture. :)

Kolbs and Dada

Grant loves his G-ma!

Our little Thanksgiving baby!

Number 1 Turns 4

2011-12-04T19:54:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe that it's been four years since Mark and I welcomed our first little boy into this world. As they say, time flies when you're having fun! Kolbe is a wonderful, intelligent, charming little boy. We marvel at him more and more each day. Sure he and I tend to butt heads from time to time, but you can often hear me telling people that it's simply because we're practically the same person. He's definitely his own mother's son both in appearance and attitude! (er...bull-headedness!) He's still just a tiny little fella at thirty-one pounds, though he did grow a few inches recently and is now thirty-nine inches tall! He's a fantastic big brother. Of course, this entails bossing Rudy around every waking hour of the day, but he's also his fiercest defender and cheerleader. Not to mention the budding relationship he has with Grant. So precious! He loves, loves, LOVES sports of any kind. But most especially, baseball. Just recently he has started hitting the ball really well without a t-stand. He's quite proud! He's a fantastic story-teller, both fiction and non-fiction (ha!), and has a steel trap of a mind. (Really, we pulled out Christmas decorations recently and he reminded me of a Christmas book we had to throw away last year because we spilled milk on it.) He's no longer napping on most days and despite that, still tries his best to be a night owl when he can. He writes his name well, knows all his letters and numbers, and is starting to put sounds and words together with reading and writing. Such a fascinating little boy. We love this guy, oh so much!

He insisted on a baseball cake, and this was my best effort with what little time I had to put it together!

Handsome little boy turning four!

He even helped us sing the birthday song for himself!

And Rudy had to help him blow the candles out...which turned into slobbering all over the cake!

Dada was so excited to give Kolbe a real pair of PF Flyer baseball shoes!

And he had been wanting his own weed-wacker for quite some time...which was Mama's gift for him.

Here's the birthday boy decked out in his Cardinals gear from Pinkie and Pa! He got his own Albert Pujols shirt! (his favorite player)

And shortly thereafter my camera died. You can see in the background of the past picture that Mark is busy assembling his new grill that G-ma sent him. It has definitely been a hit...he cooks me lunch every day during his quiet time! He also got some pots and pans to go with his grill and a new guitar from Papa Jeep (since Mark accidentally smashed his old one while folding up the stroller in the trunk) Such a fantastic birthday for a wonderful little boy!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-26T12:30:00.001-06:00

Only a good three plus weeks late! But getting it archived nonetheless...

We had such a fun Halloween this year! It was for sure the first year that Kolbe really understood the whole idea of trick-or-treating. And we had several activities to attend so I was excited that the boys got to wear their costumes more than once. (You know, since I spent hours slaving over them...ha!...really, they're cut up t-shirts and sweat pants from Walmart) As big fans of Snow White, the boys decided they wanted to go as dwarfs. Kolbe chose Doc because he wanted to wear his St. Maximillian Kolbe glasses from last year. And because Grumpy wears red like Doc and Rudy wants to be just like Kolbe in every way, Rudy chose Grumpy. Grant went as Dopey by default as I was not interested in messing with making a beard for him and Dopey is the only beardless dwarf! Also, it was fun to see lots of trick-or-treaters come by our house this year. I'm not sure why...maybe because all the churches have so many activities?...but in Lubbock we rarely ever had any trick-or-treaters come by our house. Here it was the exact opposite! Tons of cute little kiddies coming by for candy. And the weather was just right for all of the festivities. Lots of fun!

Two weekends before Halloween we went to a church Halloween Party held at a local park. Because it was pretty hot outside, the hats and beards were abandoned within a few minutes of arriving. So they ran around looking like Santa Claus for the rest of the day.

Love my little handsome guy

With a blue face from a snow cone we shared!

This one isn't too hard to look at either!

Ah, guess we'll throw Mister Blue Eyes in there too!

He watched everything from his stroller.

We should have attempted this pic when we arrived...not as we were leaving! They were not interested in posing!

A few days later I took the boys to a retirement home to take treats to the residents. They did so well! A lot of the other kids there were afraid but these guys did great.

The day before Thanksgiving we spent at the zoo (my camera battery died so we have very few pics of that). When we got home that night we were pretty beat but we squeezed in a little time to carve our pumpkin and roast some pumpkin seeds.

He turned out pretty cute!

Trick-or-treat!!!

Cutest Dopey ever!

Posing for pictures at Pinkie and Pa's house. Afterwards we hit up most of their street where we made lots of friends while living there prior to closing on our house and then headed back to our neighborhood for even more fun. A great night for these excited little guys!!!

Uncle Kirk's Ranch

2011-10-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago my Uncle Kirk and Aunt Cathy invited us to ride out to the ranch that they have partial stakes in to see all the animals and scenery. It's about an hour and half north of The Woodlands, so the drive took a little bit, but it was well worth it. We had so much fun just getting out of the big city and having some time together to reconnect as a family and see God's beauty in nature. We spent a few hours fishing, checking out the animals, touring the ranch, and exploring the huge Jesuit camp that they're building on the ranch. Afterwards we went to the best little steakhouse in Leona, Texas and enjoyed massive ribeyes and yummy potatoes. Nothing like a day out in the country! Much thanks to Uncle Kirk and Aunt Cathy for such a fun day!

Sweet Reagan

The little guy! His eyes are so blue in natural lighting.

Exploring.

Curious little fella!

Kolbe working hard to reel in his big catch

Everybody watching Uncle Kirk bring in a catfish

Dada working hard to get him un-hooked

Yay!

The horses came running when they found out we had food!

Feeding grass through the fence.

Rudy looks so concerned!

Nothing beats a good Texas sunset.

Root, root, root for the Astros!

2011-10-16T13:59:00.002-05:00

I know we're a little late and the Astros are most definitely out of contention for the World Series title, but I just thought I'd share some of our pictures from our two trips to see the Astros this season. (I'm only three blog posts behind on chronicling all of the fun events we've had recently...trying to get caught up!) Back in September the boys, Pinkie, Pa and I all took in an afternoon game between the Astros and the Phillies. We sat way up in the rafters which turned out to be a great idea. We had plenty of room to roam! Our second trip was just a few weeks later and was the Astros vs. the Cardinals...Pa's team. Pinkie stayed behind because she wasn't feeling well but Mark got to come because it was a night game. We had much closer seats, but that meant lots of people to climb over for the bajillion times we had to get up. Regardless, we had a blast on both trips. Probably the best part was getting to watch Kolbe fall in love with baseball! He was so fascinated by the game and literally sat still and watched each pitch. He's a future All Star in the making! We can't wait to go back next season. Until then we'll just have to cheer for either Pa's Cardinals or the Texas Rangers. That may be hard though if they end up playing against each other in the World Series!

Outside of the Park on our first trip

Playing imaginary baseball

Pa with Grant...looks like he might be inheriting Pa's pretty eyes!

Kolbe learning the ropes of baseball from Pa

You've never seen a more excited kiddo to sit up in the $1 seats!

Go Astros!

Grant had more fun flirting with his grandparents than watching the game.

On our second trip...who to cheer for? Astros? Cardinals? Kolbs brought both hats and cheered for both teams!

And Kolbe has officially entered that goofy boy stage where he has to sneak in on other peoples' pictures.

Dada teaching the boys how to stare down the batter.

Three of my favorite boys!

Labor Day Weekend in Lubbock

2011-10-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

Eek! I'm horribly embarrassed that it has taken over a month for me to finally get this post up. I'm being 100% honest when I say that I've had the pictures load up to the blog post for a few weeks now and just have not managed to get in here and add captions to them all. Every time I get started the phone rings, a baby wakes up, the dryer buzzes, etc. But alas, it's finally done. We had our first return visit to Lubbock over Labor Day weekend to celebrate both Grant's baptism as well as Jacob's baptism. (He's our adorable godson!) We had a fantastic time! There were really only two downsides...1-the trip flew by and wasn't long enough and 2-the car ride portions were absolutely miserable! Let it suffice to say that next time we will go back to driving at night instead of during the day. Complete caged-animal-insanity aside, we're so glad we had the opportunity to take this trip and can't wait to go back around Christmas time.

Tech had their first home game while we were there so we had to go up to campus and check out the Will Rogers statue. The boys were fascinated, of course!

Three brothers!

A rare family-of-five pic...I think this might have been our very first one! Since Grant was in the NICU we failed miserably to get any when he was born.

Mark's brother Brian and our sister-in-law Cristi served as Grant's godparents

When Uncle Dave showed up he was an immediate magnet for the boys. They LOVE Uncle Dave.

At our old beloved parish, St. Elizabeth's...where we met, got married, and our other boys were baptized too!

Grant's baptism

Jacob's baptism

Our newest little Catholic! (with Brian and Cristi Asmussen)

And our second little godson, Jacob Cole Johnson with our dear friends Ben and Erin Johnson

The whole group with Deacon Dick

The Asmussen group (with Mark's parents and my mom)

Our sweet godson, Jacob. He definitely has Grant beat in the hair department!

I think at least nine hundred versions of this picture were taken and I've yet to see one where all five of us look normal! Such is life in pictures with three boys three and under.

My sweet baby

And what would a celebration in Lubbock be without a cake from Keri!?! The BEST!

We had a fun fajita reception at Ruby Tequila's after the baptism.

Despite many years of spending time at G-ma's house, we had never actually spent the night there until this trip since we always lived just a few miles away. Needless to say, the boys were thrilled to get to do their favorite past time (jumping on G-ma's cushions...an activity ONLY allowed at G-ma's!) all night, every night

Oh! The thrills!

They would get so excited that they'd have to stop and hug each other out of sheer joy! Ha!

Two brothers!

On Sunday after mass we went over to my Aunt Lulu's for pizza. The boys had a ball playing with cousins John, Shelby, and Kinsey.

And then on Sunday night Miss Lora hosted a cook out at her house where there was more shenanigans and cousinly fun. (here with Asmussen side cousins Adan and Hayden)

Playing with the ice bucket (Adan, Hayden, Kinsey, Shelby and the boys)

Despite the fact that I've included tons of pictures, I'm realizing that I did a horrible job as the photographer on this trip! I failed to get pictures of the boys riding their new bikes at G-ma's house, failed to send the camera with G-ma and Papa Jeep when they took the boys to the beloved "castle park," and failed to get any good pictures at all of all the down time spent visiting and the boys cuddling with G-ma and Papa Jeep. Believe me, lots of that went on too! And next time I'll be better with the camera. In my defense, I've got a newborn in my arms most of the time!

Papa Jeep's Visit

2011-07-29T06:35:00.000-05:00

Mark's dad (famously known by the boys as "Papa Jeep" for the cool white Jeep he drives) was able to fly down for a quick weekend trip to visit the family, see our new house, and of course, meet his new grandson and birthday-sharer, Grant. The visit was really short, and we wish he could have stayed longer, but we had a ton of fun with him while he was here. For the boys, the best part was the highly anticipated visit to the neighborhood pool. Throw in a trip to the donut store, fun up at Market Street, and a movie night, and they just absolutely loved "when Papa Jeep stayed at our house"!!!

Getting ready to jump into the kiddie end!

Rudy LOVES the water. He's definitely the braver swimmer of the two big boys.

One, two, three...jump!

Grant and I watched from the side while everyone else swam for nearly two hours. It was very cloudy and on the verge or raining the whole time which was a blessing for us! No glaring sun! And a treat for the boys too...we were some of the only people there and stayed until the rain finally came.

Rudy and Papa Jeep in the waterfall. Obviously neither of them was having a good time!

Cheese! Can you see the resemblance? We think Rudy looks so much like the Asmussen side of the family.

Hanging out...talking about life and the weather...

Hugs for Papa Jeep up at Market Street

Yum, yum! A little ice cream cone!

I wanted a picture of all the Asmussen boys but Rudy was entering full meltdown and would not participate and Grant was crashed in the sling.

Movie Night!!! The boys love piling up on a palate and were excited to have baby Grant with them for a few minutes too!

Mr. Clean!

Those first few weeks at home...4th of July included!

2011-07-24T17:57:00.000-05:00

Our sweet little guy, Grant, is officially one month old today! We really can't believe it. Time sure does fly! Here are a few pictures of his first weeks at home. They include shots of his first bath, G-ma's visit, and the fourth of July. Mark's dad, Maury, also came last weekend, but those pics are on a different camera and the battery is dead, so I'll do my best to get those pics up later this week. Here we go!

Not a fan of being cold...

The big brothers had to be right in on the action.

All cleaned up and decked out in his duck jammies. I'm pretty sure he's wondering what in the world we just did to him!

G-ma treated the boys to a fun trip to Chuck E. Cheese to play on all of the kiddie rides. What fun!

Practicing throwing the pigskin!

And cruising in a Jeep, just like Papa Jeep! (that's what the boys call Grandpa Maury!)

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure that would be classified as cheating...

And the boys' favorite past-time with G-ma...a good scrubbin'!

Hanging out at Pinkie and Pa's over fourth of July weekend...we ended up having to move back there for several days when our air conditioner went out over the holiday weekend and no one could come to fix it. Go figure.

The boys were so excited to meet Spiderman at the Fourth of July parade in Market Street. They really have no idea who he is but were fascinated nonetheless.

Nothing beats a balloon!

Pinkie and the guys enjoying the parade.

They loved all the military vehicles that came through.

And even Little Grant got out for a few minutes to check out the sites!

We sure are having fun with this little one. So far, Kolbe is the very concerned, protective big brother. And Rudy is definitely the lovey, affectionate big brother. They can't wait to teach Grant all the ins and out of being a boy! And Mark and I are just taking all the time we can to soak up as much of this baby stage as possible. We certainly know how quickly it passes and want to cherish each moment with Little Grant!

Grant Michael Asmussen

2011-07-20T19:36:00.000-05:00

Our third little gift from God was born into this world on June 24th at 1:34pm. Almost a month ago! So I figured I'd better try my best to recount that special day before life continues to happen and I gradually start to lose track of all the little details.

Though I was extremely fortunate once again to have a relatively easy pregnancy for the first three-fourths of it, my pregnancy with Grant was by far the most stressful one yet. We found out we'd be blessed with another baby at the beginning of November 2010, just weeks before Mark decided it would be best for us to find a new job situation for himself and our family. We never expected we'd be making a major move during this pregnancy, but God apparently saw otherwise. So between getting our Lubbock house ready to sell, selling it, moving to The Woodlands and in with my parents, finding a new house in The Woodlands, moving once again, getting our new house set up, and continuing to take care of Kolbe and Reagan all the while, it's safe to say that this pregnancy was hectic, busy, and stressful. As expected, the last few weeks got a little tougher as my blood pressure creeped up and lots and lots of swelling set in. Since the other two boys were both born right at thirty-six weeks, I fully expected Grant to make his appearance then too, but was completely thrilled when I ended up making it seven extra days to thirty-seven weeks...full term!

I woke up on Friday morning with a bad headache and lots of dizziness. The blood pressure cuff had been a good friend of mine the several weeks prior to this, and on that morning, it was reading even higher than it previously had been. In the "not safe" range. When the dizziness and light-headedness wouldn't clear up, the blood pressure wouldn't go down, and lots of contractions set in, I went ahead and called my doctor who had me come in to labor and delivery right away. Mark was at work and we weren't exactly sure what was going to happen, so my mom came over and got me and the boys. We took the boys back to her house and dropped them off with my dad and she accompanied me to the hospital. After checking in and getting set up, they told us I'd be having the baby in just an hour and a half or so.

Things moved quickly from there. Mark arrived shortly there after and the nurses began giving me medicine to prepare for my third C-section. I was so excited to meeting our new little guy, though I think the excitement was masked by the effects of the blood pressure dips and spikes, the dizziness, and the headache. Just before they took me back to the OR, the anesthesiologist came in to go over everything and asked if I would like for my mom to come in to the OR too. Since I am my mother's only daughter, I always hoped that she would be able to be there with me to see one of her grandchildren be born. After Kolbe and Reagan's births, I assumed that this was essentially impossible since they usually only let you have one person in the OR with you. I was thrilled by this kind gesture from the doctors. And we didn't even ask! They just offered! It was a gift that I knew my mother wanted badly and that I never thought I'd be able to give her. I was so thankful for it! Of course, having my husband there with me too was absolutely wonderful. His presence always makes me feel reassured that everything is going to be okay.

Grant's delivery took just a few minutes. It sure did feel like a lot longer, but as soon as I heard that little cry, time stood still. Man, nothing can beat that moment! They took him to get cleaned up and checked over; both Mark and my mom were back and forth between me and Grant. I loved that this time they had the baby just about five feet away from me so I could see everything that was going on. Of course, some of that excitement was masked by the fact that I got hit by a major wave of nausea and within a few minutes I was trying to toss my cookies while laying down. Pretty impossible. And even more impossible considering I hadn't had anything to eat since the night before! Meanwhile, I just about rolled off the operating bed when they announced that Grant weighed in at seven pounds and ten ounces. Really? My baby!?! The other two were five pounders! He came in at literally two whole pounds more than Reagan and even more than that compared to Kolbe. And at just seven days further along than them. I'm guessing that if he had made it the full forty weeks, he would have been quite the chunk!

After that cleared up they took us all to the recover room where I got to hold Grant for the first time. We tried nursing right away, which was when the nurses started noticing how much he was grunting. He seemed like he couldn't try to nurse and breath well at the same time. They tried getting him to cry more by giving him a bath...supposedly this helps clear fluid out of the lungs some. Still, the grunting was getting louder and happening with each breath so they decided to take him to the NICU. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me too much since I had already had some good time with him, knew he was doing really well, and felt confident that it was just a little problem and nothing major. In fact, I found it so ironic that my full-term, biggest-yet fella was the only one to go to the NICU!

Unfortunately, the "hopefully just a few hours" stay in the NICU turned into about forty-eight hours. Even though his oxygen levels were always right near 100%, the grunting was still there...and even got louder for a while...so they were forced to tube feed him my pumped milk through his nose. As is started to clear up, they allowed me to come down at each feeding and try nursing him and then hold him on my chest while the tube feeding was taking place. Of course, this wasn't how I wanted things to start out, but I was willing to do whatever it took to get him cleared up and in the room with me. Between pumping frequently, going down to the NICU for each feeding (which was gradually given to him over an hour's time), and taking care of my own medical needs, this meant very little sleeping the first few days! They decided they would release him as soon as he would latch on and nurse consistently for ten minutes in a thirty minute period. By Sunday morning, he was finally up in the room with me! Eating well and breathing well!

In the midst of all of this, we also celebrated two more birthdays! Friday, the 24th...the day Grant was born...was also Mark's dad, Maury's birthday. How cool to have a grandson born on your birthday! He was still in Lubbock so we were celebrating from afar, but it was still very special to get to tell him that he'd have a grandson that shares his birthday. And then, on the 25th, I rang in big number twenty-nine. I told everyone that I secretly planned it that way so that in years to come when I'm in my thirties...and then forties!...my aging would be overshadowed by Grant's birthday. Every little kiddo wants his birthday to be noticed, and everyone leaving their twenties has no problem with their birthdays being forgotten! It was still a very special birthday with the best gift I could have ever wished for! It will be pretty impossible that!

Grant and I finally got to go home on Monday afternoon and were welcomed by two eager big brothers and one eager grandma, G-ma (Mark's mom), who flew in for the week to help out with our transition home. Our birth experience was a wonderful celebration of life and as special and wonderful as I could have hoped for it to be, especially considering the past experiences. We are so thrilled to have Grant! Considering Reagan is now two-and-a-half, we had almost forgotten what it was like to have a tiny little newborn. It's such a fantastic feeling and we just can't get enough of this precious boy: the sweet smells, the squeaky little cries, the silky soft skin, the helpless, innocent little eyes look up and trusting that you'll be the ones to care for him forever. And we will!

Last shot of pregnancy #3!

Welcome to the world, little guy!

Seven pounds and ten ounces! Or so the monitor says!

Doesn't he clean up nicely?

Right after cuddling with Mama for the first time. That's one happy lady!

The whole O.R. crew in the recovery room.

Pinkie and Grant

Proud Papa, once again.

Riding down the hall in his little bassinet (it's against hospital rules to carry your baby down the hall, don't you know. I accidentally tried.)

Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi drove down from Dallas to meet their godson and help out with the big boys too. They were a God-send!!!

Spending time with Dada.

Two brothers and two brothers! The smaller set is on the way to meet their other brother!

And on Saturday morning they brought Mama flowers for her birthday!

Headed home!

Small baby, big car seat!

Getting to hold Grant for the first time. Rudy loved it...Kolbe was terrified and chickened out!

Somebody is proud to not just be the little brother...but the big brother too!

Welcome to The Asmussens!

2011-06-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

Enough of you have asked for it, so here it is! A little informal tour of our new house. Please keep in mind that we just moved into this house three weeks ago. And I'm due to have a baby any day now. So in other words, it's far from complete! There are "somedays" and "maybe we coulds" and "hopefully one day we'lls" in just about every room. But with that being said, we LOVE our new house!

Most of the front. (yes, there's another garage door to the right) It sure is nice having landscaping!

And we actually have a porch! Where hopefully one day a couple of cute white rocking chairs will sit. Can't you see it!?!

To the left when you enter is our formal dining room. Far from formal, I tell ya. I attempted to give this set of table and chairs away several times while back in Lubbock. No takers. Which now is a good thing or we'd have nothing to fill this room!

It has a pass through into the kitchen.

Here's one side of the kitchen. The side with the cool windows on the backsplash. I love the corian countertops and can I just say that I'm in love with having a gas range/oven!?! WAY better than electric!

I didn't get a good picture of the other side of the kitchen, but it's just as cool. This, however, is a shot from the kitchen sink looking into the family room. See the massively large wall? It goes all the way up two stories. Have no idea what to do with it. Really, one thing that would help a ton is a coat of paint for the entire entry way and family room. A little something to warm it up a bit and take away the starkness of big, huge, wide open walls. But that would be the kind of paint job that would require us to hire painters. Or invest in some sort of scaffolding!

Looking back at the kitchen/eating area. Windows galore!

And back at the sink looking at the back half of the family room. That passway in the middle leads to a half bath and the master bedroom. The one you can barely see on the far right leads back to the front door.

Not much to show for our poor master bedroom right now. One of these days we'll have gorgeous master bedroom furniture to match the beautiful room and bright windows. And it will get a good coat of paint too. Someday.

I think Mark's favorite room just might be the master bath. Pictures don't do it justice, but compared to our old master bath, it's magnificent!

And there's my new jacuzzi tub!

Ah. The boys room. All the potential in the world. And really, the previous owners did a precious paint job, it just doesn't match the bedding we have for the boys at all. I'm hoping maybe we can paint the top and bottom portions and keep the tiled border. And I suppose a valance might help too. Regardless of how much I cringe when I look in there, the boys think it's the coolest room ever.

This will eventually be Baby Grant's room. (He'll stay downstairs with us for a while.) Until then, there's an extra bed for anyone that wants to come stay! And sadly, the one room that no one uses right now is the one room I've actually done some sewing for. I made a little valance out of some fabric I bought to make curtains for our guest room back in Lubbock before we found out we were going to be moving. With the room already painted a cornflower blue, I thought the yellow and cream would work well for now.

The guest room...don't you wanna come stay with us!?! Please!?!

I was really worried about the paint color in here too since I knew the bedding we had for our guest room was red/gold. But I've tried to add a few things in there to make it complementary. At least for now.

The play room/office is kind of hard to capture. It's big! With nice big windows.

Lots of room to use the computer, hang out, play with toys...

Oh, and it has my awesome sewing area attached to the side where I run my little business from. My favorite part of the house, of course!

This is at the top of the stairs looking over toward the play room

And also at the top of the stairs looking over the ledge down into the family room. Didn't want you to miss out on the massive empty wall again!

I forgot to get a pic of the half bath, the laundry room, the massive room-sized closet up by the play room, and the backyard, but there you have it! A little tour of our new home! Hope you like it...and hope you'll come see it in person...soon!

Just Because...

2011-06-07T07:02:00.002-05:00

Stopping in with a few pictures of the boys. Just because...

There are people far away that miss them so much.

Just because...

In a matter of days, two brothers will become three.

Just because...

I want to remember them just as they are.

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-05-08T14:52:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic Easter weekend here in The Woodlands filled with all the traditional fun and then some. It was wonderful to see the boys actually start to understand the meaning of Easter this year, though we were just happy to make it through mass considering how packed it was. Mark was on-call all weekend which was a bummer, but luckily he got to spend most of Saturday with us. We also got to spend time with The Raines Family (my mom's sister's family) which the boys just loved. Not to mention the fun trip down into Houston that the boys and I took on Friday to meet up with my cousin Mandi who was in town visiting her in-laws. Here's shots of everything!

Checking out the splash pad

Not quite sure how that's comfortable...

Loving the water!

Group shot! I think everyone is actually looking at the camera!

The boys loved coloring Easter eggs...and Rudy loved eating them too!

Dada made it home from being on call in time to help.

Two brothers showing off their Easter bunny shirts that G-ma sent to them.

The finished products!

Hanging out at the Raines' house after mass..."aunt" Kristen is always in for an exercise session when the boys are around!

They have a blast flying on her feet! Woman has legs of steel!

Looks like he's up to no good, right?

Looks what we found inside! Little sweet tooth!

By the time we made it home, somebody was SPENT!

But after nap time he was ready to look for Easter eggs in the backyard with Pa and Molly.

Kolbe had to get a head start...getting his basket first might have made him miss these guys!

Checking out all the loot afterward. Those baskets had to disappear to the top of the fridge pretty quickly! But no harm in a little sugary fun every now and then!

See! Puts a smile on their faces!

Happy Easter, everyone! Hope your day was blessed!

Leaving Lubbock: Part 4- The Final Move

2011-05-03T21:53:00.000-05:00

I'm slacking quite a bit on getting pictures posted in a timely manner but I'm going to make an effort to catch up! Here's the final installment of our move to The Woodlands. I flew up to Lubbock on April 5th to supervise the moving company that moving all of our stuff as well as to close on the sale of our house. I then flew back to The Woodlands to be there when the movers delivered all off our stuff to my parents' house. Here's a little look at how it all went:

The good ol' Mayflower moving truck showed up on moving day. Thank God Mark's new job was footing the bill...moving is NOT cheap!

Slowly, the truck filled up.

When we left for The Woodlands back in March, we had only accepted an offer on our house just two days prior. Just in case things didn't go through, we left the house completely set up in case realtors had to start showing it again. It was wild...and somewhat emotional...to see it go from this...

...to this...

...to this. So many memories in this little room.

On the other side of the state, my dad (aka "Pa") was my accomplice on delivery day. (Pinkie was at jury duty)

I had to stay up at the garage and check box numbers off the list as they rolled them in so Pa was more than happy to take the boys on little trips down to look inside the moving van.

The boys got to enjoy their lunch out at their little boy table while they watched the movers.

Rudy flamed out and had to go take his nap, but Kolb was still full of life by the time the movers finished and was thrilled to get to run around inside the empty moving van.

My poor parents...this is what a three car garage looks like with all the worldly possessions of the Asmussen Family crammed inside! They generously donated their garage for our storage until we move into our new house so that we wouldn't have to spend thousands to store it.

Next stop: our new house! If all goes as planned, we will be closing on our new home on May 19th and hopefully moving in the next day! We can't wait!

Leaving Lubbock: Part 3 - The Little House on 72nd Street

2011-04-14T21:45:00.001-05:00

Today officially marks one month since we drove away from our little house on 72nd Street. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago...so much has happened in just one month!...and in others, it still feels like yesterday. The exciting news is that we've found a house here in The Woodlands and are under contract to close on it on May 19th. We can't wait to be in our new home! (pictures to come soon)

But our little house on 72nd Street will always hold a special place in our hearts. Out on the street in front of it is where I agreed to be Mark's bride one warm May afternoon in 2006. Within it's walls a couple became a family...the place our two precious boys came home to. It's where our journey as parents began. Where so many memories took place. We will miss it dearly!

The Sunday morning before we left, my brother and sister-in-law, Andy and Abby, came over before mass to snap a few pictures of us out front. Our final memories of The Asmussens, proud owners of 4825 72nd Street.

Leaving Lubbock: Part 2- The World's Best Bubble Bath

2011-04-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

Our very last night in Lubbock we spent with Mark's parents enjoying as much time as we could together. We had fun hanging out at Miss Lora's house and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner of all-you-can-eat spaghetti at Orlando's, a favorite Lubbock restaurant. Afterward, we returned to Miss Lora's house to take part in a G-ma tradition...bath time!!! G-ma has always given the boys the best scrubbins and they just love getting to take a bath at her house. Typically she gives them a bath in the hallway bathroom but decided to treat them to a special bubble bath in the master bathroom that has a jetted tub. The pictures suffice to show that the jets turned a little bit of bubble bath into a ton of bubbles! Though it was the hardest goodbye of all and ended with plenty of tears (at least from the girls involved!) it was such a special night that we'll always hold dear to our hearts.

Kolbs and G-ma

Cheesy Face!

Look Ma! I can do it too!

Orlandos!

Bath time!

Obviously, no one was having fun!

Mark trying to show his parents how Face Time works...we're trying to convince them to get some kind of Apple device so we can see them any time we talk!

G-ma was lovin' it too.

And because that many bubbles are nearly impossible to rinse off, they just had to take a shower too! (and don't be fooled by the crazy face...they were having a blast!)

Leaving Lubbock: Part 1

2011-03-25T23:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a little bit behind with this "series" of posts. Ok, probably more than a little bit, considering we've been here in The Woodlands for nearly two weeks. And the party I write about in this post was held a little over a week before we left. But have you ever moved before??? It's busy! And exhausting! So that's my excuse for being so far behind.

Our wonderful friends in Lubbock threw us the neatest little going away party two weekends before we left town. We are so, so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in Lubbock. If only they could have all come with us to The Woodlands! We already miss them all so much. There's lots of pictures in this post...you'll have to forgive me! And even at that, there's so many wonderful people who aren't pictured that were there that I wish we had paused and taken pictures with! Here we go...

The hostesses put together the best food buffet ever...filled with our favorite Lubbock-only foods! What a great idea!

The lady that made our wedding cakes is the best baker ever. We've ended up turning to her for cakes to celebrate all occassions so having a Kerry-cake at our going away party was the perfect touch.

Kolbe was beside himself when I told him we weren't going to be blowing out candles on this cake. But Mom! All cakes are supposed to have candles! So Miss Erin scrounged up a few and we sang "Say Goodbye to Kolbe" and let him blow out the candles.

And of course Rudy had to have his turn too.

Andy and John got in on the festivities...and Joe was clearly having the time of his life in the background!

Hopefully we'll be reuniting with this sweet couple (Conner...er, Collin...and Anna) this summer for their wedding in San Antonio.

Girl buddies- Erin, Karen, and me...starting to work the pregnant full-face.

This absolutely had to be documented--Kinsey actually let Mark hold her! It's a first!

Because Dave lived with us for most of Kolbe's first year and a half of life, these two are the best of friends. It will be hard to be away from "Uncle Dang."

Us with the Bergmans...(how fair is it that my husband is about fourteen shades tanner than I am!?! Not at all!!!) I'm going to miss my dear cousin/stay-at-home-mama confidant, Mandi. Thank God for text messages!

Ever since Kolbe was a baby he's been attached at the hip to "Uncle Bean." He adores him. And to me, this picture of these two shows it all.

See! He and Rudy both think Ben is the coolest!

Baby John was about to get in his jammies and had never experienced crawling on a cold tile floor. He had to bear crawl it to the carpet as fast as possible!

And then spend some time laughing at his godfather, Uncle Marky.

Lubbock has been heavily populated by Hefferlys since Mike's arrival in 1999. Twelve years later the total drops from what was once five to now only two. And give it about two more years and I think we'll be extinct.

I love Uncle Dave!

Me too!

Us with our dear friends, the Johnsons...weekends will be lonely without yall!

And the last crew standing at the end of the night! Seriously...this was around midnight and we still managed to get a fairly good shot with the camera propped on the counter!

We loved our special little going away party and feel so blessed that God gave us such a wonderful extended family to experience the first years of our married life with in Lubbock. These are the people we love and our children love and we will miss them terribly.

Killing Time

2011-02-25T22:40:00.000-06:00

Our house has been on the market for about a week and a half. All the touch ups have been done, all the deep down cleaning taken care of, the move to The Woodlands looms in the near future....and now there's nothing much left to do but kill time.

Mark's new job doesn't officially start for a few more weeks (thanks to having to get hospital privleges at FIVE different hospitals!) and really, we're just ~~patiently~~ desperately waiting for a buyer for our house. We'll be taking off in a few weeks (over spring break) whether the house has sold or not, because A) Mark has to start working and B) I'm more than half way through my pregnancy. I've gotta get down there and get a new doctor before anything goes awry...you know, as it tends to do at the end of my pregnancies.

So in the mean time, we've been wracking our brains trying to come up with things to do. Mainly things to get the kids out of the house so they don't destroy what we've attempted to make look so nice. Here's what we've come up with so far:

I'm still pretty pathetic when it comes to spending time outside in the cold, but the boys could care less. So after dinner, Mark will walk the boys up to the pond behind our house to feed the ducks. They love it, of course.

Doing the same on a slightly warmer day. Two brothers! Soon to be three!

And there's always afternoon fishing at the same spot. Kolbe attempts to actually fish while Rudy just sits there and eats the corn Mark takes as bait.

Or pointless trips to Home Depot with no shopping list in tow. But we've managed to find a "little boy ax," "little boy shovel," "little boy rake," "little boy...." as Kolbe calls them all.

And Mark decided to get in a little Texas Tech action with Kolbe before we move so far away from Raiderland. They took in the first chunk of a Red Raider baseball game after nap one day while Rudy and I did grocery shopping.

And when all else fails, there's always countless books to read.... Oh, and there's me at 20 weeks prego. See the beginnings of a baby bump??? No??? I can only get a picture of it when I'm slightly crumpled up like this...pitiful, I know. He's in there though! I swear!

Rudy Ray, the Birthday "Bay!"

2011-02-17T17:02:00.001-06:00

I couldn't help but use "bay" to rhyme with "Ray" in the post title...when we were little, my brother Andy used to say "Bays and Grills" for "boys and girls." Still funny, even now.

Anyway, Rudy Boy's birthday was last week on the tenth and we finally got around to celebrating it this past weekend. We had a small group of family over for pizza and cake and just enjoyed celebrating our second little guy who somehow managed to let another year of his life pass by. It's moving too fast, I tell ya. We sure do love our Rudy boy and are so thankful for his sweet, gentle soul. What a blessing that God has entrusted to us!

We didn't do too much on the actual day of Rudy's birthday. Mark took him for his annual "special morning with Dada" to go get a donut, go to the book store, and go to the sports store. When he woke up from his nap there was a special cookie bouquet waiting for him from Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi! Those cookies are so huge, all it took was about a third of a cookie cut in to little bites to satisfy him.

At his little party, pizza was enjoyed by everyone. I would have tried to make a little more effort with the menu, but this was on the same day that Mark and I spent HOURS painting and finishing up the house before it went on the market.

After singing "Happy Birthday" to Rudy, he insisted on watching the playback from our HD video camera on the big TV. Both of those guys are fascinated with seeing themselves in action!

Mama and Kolbe enjoying the party.

Checking out a new puzzle from Uncle Mikey and Aunt Casey with Kolbe, Shelby, and Kinsey.

Enjoying a little chips and hot sauce. Is it crazy that both of our boys LOVE hot sauce!?!

Reading one of their favorite books, The Giving Tree, with Papa Jeep. I can't wait till their old enough to fully understand that book!

Enjoying some pizza at the kiddie table!

Aunt Mandi made him a sweet "2" shirt. Rudy's favorite gift of the night was the sweet fire truck that Pinke and Pa sent him. In Love!

"Happy Birthday to Ru..."

Look at that face! He was so tickled!

G-ma brought a set of cool cars that they had fun racing down the coffee table with Mr. Joe!

Even Baby John got in on the festivities despite his little cold. :(

One of Mama's favorite gifts of the night was the art work that Aunt Abby made for him. The one on the left is from Kolbe's birthday and has the words to the Our Father on it. Rudy's has the words to the Hail Mary and both are surrounded by pictures of their first years of life. The big letters throughout spell our their names. So cute and creative!!!

And Dada had to end the evening by finally tearing up and replacing the broken tile by our family room. I think he was a little intimidated at first but really enjoyed doing it!

Snow Days

2011-02-06T08:13:00.000-06:00

Like a good chunk of Texas residents, we spent most of this past week with an inch or two of snow coating our yard (and streets!). For us, the snow started on Monday night and didn't melt until Friday while we endured the average temps of about 9 degrees with windchills often below -15. It wouldn't be Lubbock without the wind, right!?! G-ma came over one afternoon and was brave enough to take the boys in the backyard for a few minutes. Better her than me! We didn't do much more snow playing other than this one day because the boys have been sick, sick, sick. Par for the course for this time of year. At least they got to enjoy it for a little bit!

Happy Winter-time to everybody!

The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 3

2011-01-28T21:52:00.001-06:00

Me: (knock, knock, knock...) Anyone home???
The Other Me: (snooooore. snoooooore.)
Me: Uh, hello!?! Pregnancy brain gotten to you already???
The Other Me: Wha? Who? Oh! I'm awake, I'm awake! I swear!

Yes, it seems that I've become a bit forgetful. Lost track of a few things, I suppose. 'Cause it wasn't until yesterday when I clicked onto our blog to see if any friends had posted recently and realized that I managed to never post the third and final installment of our Christmas adventures. Despite the fact I had already loaded and edited the pictures. Just plain ol' never posted it. So here we are- January 28th- just now getting up the Asmussen portion of our Christmas. Better late than never, I suppose.

We spent most of New Year's Eve over at Mark's mom's house to celebrate Christmas with the Asmussens. She had a yummy meal catered by Orlandos that we all pigged out on before opening gifts. We ended up spending the rest of the evening just hanging out together, playing with new toys, and staying warm by the fire. A great way to celebrate Christmas and ring in the new year!

Kolbe trying to take pictures with G-ma's little camera. He was so disturbed by the fact that he couldn't see the picture after he took it like on a digital camera. Oh, to be born in a different age of technology! (He's also fascinated by land line telephones...)

Trying on new shoes from G-ma!

Opening up new puzzles from Papa Jeep. They got a wide array of fun, educational prizes!

Helping G-ma open one of her gifts

More prizes!

But of course the grand finale had to be the super surprise Power Wheels in G-ma's garage! The boys love to climb on these at the toy stores but never in their wildest dreams did they think they'd actually get to drive one!

Two brothers cruisin' in their F-150. (Rudy is too short to reach the gas pedals!)

Kolbe testing out the four wheeler. (Rudy is terrified of this one, by the way, after Mark switched it over to turbo mode and it went a little too fast for his liking!)

And now for my first attempt at uploading a video from our new HD video camera. You know the little kind with the USB plug that pops out of the side...let's hope this works!

The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 2

2011-01-06T22:04:00.000-06:00

Part 2...the Hefferly portion of our Christmas break! This Christmas was a "Hefferly Christmas" (we alternate back and forth every year between my family and Mark's family) so we headed down to The Woodlands for a week of hanging out with the entire fourteen member cast of Hefferlys. This number has gone up by three since two Christmases ago. (Rudy, Jackson, and John!) We had so much fun this year! I'll apologize in advance for not being able to narrow down my pics very well. Just had to include a little bit of everything!

Kolbe got his flight jacket for his birthday a month or so ago and Pa was not able to be there, so we had to bring it down to Houston and get pics with their matching jackets!

The boys love taking baths in Pinkie and Pa's big bath tub. One night we attempted to do a bath with all four cousins. Poor little Jackson had just woken up from a nap and wasn't too excited from the get-go. So this....

Quickly led to this! John cried because Jackson was crying. And Kolb and Ru just didn't know what to do about the whole situation.

One afternoon we all went bowling and had lots of fun. At first they wouldn't let us use the metal frame with the boys so we were coming up with creative ways to help the boys roll the ball.

Pinkie had fun hanging out with Jackson at the bowling alley.

They finally let us use the frame on the condition that we made sure not to scratch the floor.

Dada took the boys on a ride in the neighbor's bike buggy that they bring over every time we come to town. They always have a blast!

The good ol' family pic before Christmas Eve mass.

Man, we're starting to look older!

Kolbe loves playing with his cousins....or any baby for that matter! And of course the babies are fascinated with him.

This was one of about a million pics taken...and the best one I could get. Hilarious, right!?! One day they'll all smile and look right at the camera. I swear!

The original crew (minus Dad)

Pinkie with all her grandbabies

Pinkie attempting to read "The Night Before Christmas" to all the kiddos before bed time. It went well for a minute or two...

I didn't get too many pictures of Christmas evening when we opened presents because it was essentially about three hours of organized chaos. But I did snap this pic of Kolb with his prized play doh-filled backpack that Uncle Mikey and Aunt Casey gave him.

Pa with all of the bows that Kolbe decorated him with.

A shot of all the Christmas goodies...including the prizes that Santa left the boys

This is one of those pics that just kills me! My baby isn't supposed to look this grown-up!

Testing out the new soccer goal and ball!

Then the big guys had to take over and start a real game.

I'm not sure who won but they definitely had a lot of fun!

We had a fantastic time in Houston. With big changes going on in our big family, it was a huge blessing for all of us to get to be together again. It was certainly the best gift of all!

Next up is the Asmussen Christmas that we celebrated a few days ago on New Years!

The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 1

2011-01-02T14:53:00.000-06:00

When I started scrolling through all the pictures from our Christmas weeks, I realized there was no way I'd be able to squeeze it all in to one post. We just had too much fun! I figured I'd start with the fun we had here in Lubbock before heading to Houston.

Going for a "horse ride." A favorite activity of children worldwide!

Making Christmas cookies with cousin Blaze...man, they love the sprinkles!

Forget the cookies...I'll just take that sweet little fella right there!

Blaze helping Kolbe cut out a gingerbread man

On our way down to Houston we stopped in Austin for an evening. We had no idea our hotel would have an indoor pool! I was sidelined by my jeans and T-shirt but Mark and the boys went for a dip in their shorts and diapers!

Rudy loved the water. No fear at all!

But he loves his Dada even more!

Kolbe on the other hand did not want to swim out in the main pool. He insisted on sitting over on the steps so he could swim "By my-elps."

Splashing in his own little world!

Next up are all the Christmas pics from Houston! Check back soon!

Trimming the Tree

2010-12-09T19:32:00.000-06:00

The boys got their first chance to participate in putting ornaments on the tree this year. In previous years, I had always done them while they were asleep to avoid a pile of broken ornaments. And while this year's decorating did result in a few that ended up in the trash can, they did better than I thought they would. Once they realized that it was kind of tricky to get the ornament on the branch, they decided to just start picking out the ones they liked and handing them to me. They're so proud of their little tree and love to go stand and look at the different ornaments. Especially the snowman one that lights up. I tried to take a few pictures of them during the process but it was next to impossible so we'll go with the more posed ones that took place after.

"Two brothers!" as Kolbe always says. Poor kid has entered the awkward, forced smile stage of life.

See what I mean!?! How do you explain it to a three year old? "No, the other smile...the normal, natural one..."

Pointing out the light up snowman ornament. Too bad the camera flash drowns out all the lights!

So proud of all his decorating!

Guess What, Brother!?!

2010-12-04T13:12:00.000-06:00

Guess what, Brother!?! I have the best news ever! We're going to have a new little brother or sister! You get to be a big brother just like me!

See, here's our new baby! He or she is eight weeks old and is due to join the world on July 15th. (we'll be ready by early June though since both boys were 36 weekers!)

What do you think, everybody!?! Please pray for Rudy and my little brother or sister, for our mama, and for our little family!

Check out our other blog to see a little Christmas gift we put together to include our third little one!

Kolbe Boy is THREE!!!

2010-11-22T18:30:00.000-06:00

I'm only about two weeks late on getting this post up, but really, it's been on the to-do list and just hasn't managed to make it to top priority till now. Two weeks ago, on November 9th, we celebrated the day that our first little boy came in to the world. To think of how much has happened since that day! And even to look back to just a year ago and see how much he's changed from two to three. The biggest change being his massive language explosion. He went from saying only a few words at two to unlimited, endless (and I mean endless) chatting. He's still full of spunk, totally boy, and the best big brother that Rudy could ever ask for. The day he came into our lives is the day that Mark and I truly grew up. And we continue to grow and grow as we watch him do the same. Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

We decided to put an end to the big birthday party every year- for every kid- for every birthday and just had a little low key get together with immediate family. As expected, Kolbe loved it and was thrilled with all the excitement. We ate chili, enjoyed cake and ice cream, and got to open presents! Here are the pictures:

Kolbe and Rudy are in love with their baby cousins! Rudy is still learning what to do with babies but Kolbe is just fabulous! He's gentle, sweet, and knows just what to do when. Like I said...the best big brother ever.

Kolbe's only request for his party was a "blue birthday." I suppose he's heard other kids talk about the various themes of their parties and he just decided he wanted "blue." So we decorated his cake with blue M&Ms, had blue balloons, wore blue shirts, etc. He loved it.

Every good big brother should teach his little brother how to sneak a swipe of icing!

One of Kolbe's only gift requests this year was a "Fight Raiders Fight like Pinkies." My mom has had this little stuffed fella at her house for several years. It plays the Tech fight song and it's literally the first thing Kolbe looks for every time we go down there. She searched high and low (as did my brother Dave here in Lubbock) for one for Kolbe but couldn't find one. The company that made them went bankrupt! So Raider Red made the move from Pinkie's to Kolbe's and let's just say that he's been more than thrilled.

Adorable, right!?! Pa bought this awesome pilot jacket for Kolbe at a Nashville airport, of all places! Kolbe is so proud of it. And although the weather hasn't exactly been cold enough to wear it more than once or twice, I think a big cold front is just around the corner! We can't wait to pass it down to all the other Hefferly boys in the future so they can be just like Pa!

Pinkie also gifted Kolbe with a singing and dancing Frosty the Snowman, one of his other winter time obsessions. (Yes, Pinkie is attempting to drive me insane.) Here they are dueling together.

G-ma gave Kolbe a cool new scooter after seeing him thoroughly enjoy Cousin Adan's a few months back. And needless to say, Rudy was not very happy about not having one of his own. And Kolbe wasn't too happy about having to share! Luckily, after witnessing the squabble, G-ma snatched up another for Rudy at super sale.

We had Kolbe's party on the Sunday before his actual birthday. But on the actual day, Uncle Dave came over and ate dinner with us and brought Kolbe an awesome black forest mini-cake so he could blow out candles again! Happy Birthday, Kolb!

A Handsome Little Visitor

2010-11-12T23:00:00.000-06:00

We were really blessed to get to see our sweet aunt/ sister-in-law, Casey and our adorable little cousin/ nephew, Jackson a week or so ago. Casey was in Levelland for a wedding and of course she brought the little guy along. We got to see them three separate times, though I only had my act together enough to get good pictures at one of these gatherings. And although Jackson is adorable in pictures, let's just say that he's even cuter in person. We could just eat him up and really hate that they live so far away! (near Boise, Idaho!)

Pinkie flew up for a chance to get to see Casey and Jackson as well as to celebrate Kolbe's birthday. And when she's in town, the boys insist that she sits in the back with them. Even if I'm the only other adult in the car.

We got together at Abby and Andy's for dinner, where the boys attempted to show Jackson all the cool features on the exersaucer.

Pinkie wanted desperately to get a picture of herself with all four grandsons. Here you go, Pinks. This was the best I could do. They're all four in it, right?!

The lack of affection that I experienced with my wild man, Kolbe, has long since been forgotten with Rudy in the picture. He's a kissing machine and will love on just about anyone in his path. In this case, we told him to give Jackson a hug and he went for the real deal.

See what I mean!?! So cute!

I love this picture for several reasons: First of all, the obvious-- Jackson's face is hysterical! The boys were trying to show him how to make the saucer bounce and I guess it caught him a little off guard. Secondly, though Rudy looks nothing like me, I love that he inherited my trademark protruding tongue when he's really focusing on something. And thirdly, doesn't this just say, "Boys" !?! I can see these same exact faces as they push Jackson down the street on a tricycle or something! I love it!

Probably one of my favorite pics of the whole year. Pinkie+John+the camera going off at just the right second= priceless!

Poor Jackson was getting sleepy. Sweet little thing.

We can't wait to see everyone again soon...in just a few weeks at my parents' house for Christmas!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T00:04:00.000-05:00

Here's our Halloween 2010 in pictures! (ok, and some comments too...I can't help myself!)

Working on the pumpkin! Isn't that face just too cute? Where did our baby go!?!

Kolbe was actually into it this year...for about three minutes.

And it was decided that he looked just like Kolbe in pumpkin form.

Easier to tell in the dark!

Kolbe dressed as his patron saint, St. Maximillian Kolbe.

Trick or Treat! Rudy was a candy corn!

Trying to get a picture of the cousins together is like trying to re-create the parting of the Red Sea. Plus, my camera was on some weird setting and I didn't realize it. So much for the photo op! Kinsey and Shelby were adorable in their puppy costumes. Though Kinsey was obviously distraught over the whole situation.

Professional Candy Taster

Our godson, John Hefferly is Fuddrucker's new poster child: World's Greatest Hamburger!

And his dog-brother, Wayne Dog made a great hot dog

Yes, he's sweeter than all of the candy combined!

Stopping by G-ma's house! (my camera died right after this shot so no pics of going to Ben and Erin's or the meltdown that occurred afterward)

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! : )

Fall Fun 2010: Part 1

2010-10-28T13:53:00.000-05:00

My favorite season is here! I love fall! A while back I did a little series of posts about all of the summer fun we were having. Well the fun has managed to carry over into fall. Maybe I love fall so much because it tends to be kind of a crafty time of year. Lots of "projects" and adventures. We've been busy exploring the ever-changing outdoors and exciting elements of autumn. The boys have been pumpkin crazy ever since we went to the grocery store at the beginning of October and saw the massive display they were setting up out front. We've brought home the cheapy "pie" pumpkins on more than one occassion so I decided that I'd let the boys create their very own masterpieces and paint the pumpkins. Eventually I think they'll get the point that you're supposed to paint a face on the pumpkin, but for now, they were just thrilled to get to go hog wild and do as they pleased.

Oh, the excitement!

And in true Rudy fashion, he had to taste-test the paint. Goof ball.

Don't disturb the little Picasso!

Rudy had to be immediately transported to the sink. This picture is after his scrubbin' but lets just say that more paint ended up on his body than his pumpkin. And he was quite obviously pleased.

So long, Sweet Summer!

2010-09-25T07:49:00.003-05:00

Sad, but true, the summer of 2010 has entered the winter of it's existence. We've had several cooler days in Lubbock and even the mosquitoes seem to making their exit. But before it's completely over, I thought I'd share a few pics that didn't make any other posts but are just too good to not show.

First up, the boys and their beloved baseball helmet. I'm not even sure where this thing came from. Left over from Raider Awakening, maybe? Regardless, the boys love it and love walking around with it on. Usually backwards. They crack me up.

And then there's the boys' and my self-portrait. Kolbe loves to take pictures. Every now and then I'll give in and let him snap a few with my camera. But one day he was very determined to get a picture of me, Rudy, and himself all together. I explained that that would be very hard to do. No matter to Kolbe. He still wanted it done. So we took a few out-stretched-arm pics of ourselves. And got two of the better pics of the three of us that I've ever seen. Sheesh! Should have tried that a long time ago!

One day Kolbe decided that it would be fun to fill up the tub in the backyard that houses all of their balls. We had done this before when we did shaving cream, but hadn't ever done it solely for the purpose of "swimming." Needless to say, it provided an entire afternoon of fun. I wish I had better lighting in the pics, but I had to put the tub in the shade to avoid sunburns. They still turned out mighty cute though!

Apparently I'm raising a spider monkey...I went inside to grab their juice cups only to hear a rap on the window from a little animal perched on the sill...

And since I'm sure you have an appetite for a delicious baby, I'll indulge you...

Yummy little fella, ain't he!

September 11th

2010-09-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

Per family tradition, we made our annual trip to a nearby park to visit the September 11th Memorial flag display. You might remember my post about it last year. Though it seems like not that long ago, it's amazing how much changes is just one year. Though I'm sure for the families of the victims of September 11th, it never really gets better. My heart still aches for them.

One year ago, the boys looked like this:

And here they are this year!

And if memory serves me right, it was at our trip to see the flags last year that Abby and Andy joined us and brought the good news that they were expecting their first baby! Just one year ago on this day, I think she was about five weeks pregnant. And here's this year:

Life does go on. And new life begins!

Fifth and Final Stop: Houston, TX

2010-09-20T12:37:00.001-05:00

So to end our travel extravaganza, the whole fam took off (literally...we flew this time) to Houston to visit my parents. Our goal was to do absolutely nothing. Just chill before Mark had to start his new job. We knew it would be at least Christmas before we'd be able to do this again, so why not!?! Needless to say, we achieved our goal. We had a fun, relaxing time doing our usual Woodlands activities of going to the park, the mall, the carousel, the splash pad, and swimming. And while we were there we celebrated Mark's birthday. Oh, and Mark and I got to go on a date. We went to a restaurant called Brio and I ate the most amazing steak I've ever had in my life. It was life changing. At least in a dietary sense. No steak will ever compare. Sorry for the random tangent; now on to the pictures!

Splash Pad! Yes, in clothes. We were at the bookstore, but it was raining so they were wet anyway. Why not let them enjoy it even more?

I know this pic is fuzzy (it's from my dad's camera) but it's one of the few we have from the park. And it's adorable.

Rudy and Pa in a paci war. Kolbe has a blanket; Rudy has a paci. It's his attachment item and I hate it! We've gotten him down to the point where he only gets it when he's sleeping, but when he gets hurt we usually have to cave and let him have it for a minute or two. Case in point, he got hurt at the mall playground and cried and cried until I busted it out of my purse. Pa teased him with it but we all know who won.

Grr.

At least Kolbe had a good time playing!

And everyone loved the carousel.

Swimming at Miss Karen's was much better than last time. Why? Because no one was sick and Dada and Pa were able to come swim too!

We went to on of Mark's favorite restaurants, Los Cucos, on the night of his birthday. It's right beside a grocery store and the boys just had to check out the cool shopping carts.

Afterward, we had chocolate cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday back at my parents' house. Take a guess at who the biggest fan of the cupcakes was!

Travel Interruption: Tim and Meredith's Wedding

2010-09-17T22:56:00.000-05:00

Two days after returning home from Colorado, Mark too off on a week-long trip to Chicago for a board review conference. Meanwhile, the boys and I welcomed Pinkie and Pa for a short visit to celebrate my cousin Tim's wedding to a beautiful girl named Meredith who just happens to be one of my former students. Yes, that does make me feel old. But in my defense, she was in eleventh grade when I was her student teacher. Meaning she was sixteen or seventeen and I was twenty-one. There. That makes me feel a little better!

Just as at all the weddings in our family, we had so much fun! Here are all the pictures for proof:

The boys looked dashing...Pa had to get a pic on his phone!

Meredith headed down the aisle with her dad

And headed back down with Tim!

We always attempt to get a pic of all the cousins when they're together...and one of these days they'll all be looking at the camera!

Hey! In this one I think they're all looking at someone's camera...just not mine!

The only one missing from the giant family pic was Mark. And it wouldn't be a Hefferly family pic without someone (Andy, Dave and Pat) being goofy!

Kolbs and Pinkie dancing

Rudy got his dance on for a while, but he's a boy who loves his sleep. It quickly turned to this:

I was blanket-less so Pat's tux coat had to suffice.

Kolbe, on the other hand, partied with the best of them!

Even the babies got in a dance or two!

Tim and Meredith "getting iced"....whatever. Pat begged me to take this pic. Here it is!

Speaking of, that guy had a great night!

And we got to see Katie, Jared, and Logan again too!

My mom and her four sisters

We spent the next entire day recovering, catching up on sleep, and visiting with Pinkie and Pa before they headed back to Houston. Of course the boys had to squeeze in some rumpus time with Pa. They're always down for a wrestle-mania or two!

Fourth Stop: Keystone, CO

2010-09-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

Our next adventure took us on the road again, but this time north instead of south. We took off on a ridiculously long trek from Lubbock, Texas to Keystone, CO just three days after returning from Dallas. My aunt and uncle live nearby in Denver and own a condo in Keystone. They graciously offered to open up their place to not just us, but my brothers and their families as well. So it was sort of a mini-family reunion, minus the parents and the youngest sibling. I’ll warn you in advance; this is very picture heavy post! But like I always say, this is our family’s photo journal…the thing we’ll look back on in years to come. So I just couldn’t resist!

I'll admit it: the car ride there was excruciating. We stopped in Dalhart for a bit to visit Mark's grandparents. By the time we arrived in Keystone, we had been travelling for 12 hours. I have to hand it to the boys though...they did great in the car!

The first full day the weather was not so great. I think the high was around 67 and it misted most of the day. I guess it didn't help that we decided to attempt our first hike up at Loveland Pass where the continental divide is. The thermostat on our car was reading in the 30s. In August!

And that's how Mark and I celebrated our fourth anniversary...shivering!

We only had one back carrier and it was freezing so Mark, the boys and I decided to abandon the hike in favor of an awesome park we happened upon back in Keystone. The boys had a blast!

The park was even fully equipped with a really cool skate park that Mark and Kolbe had fun watching. That little boy better not be getting any ideas!!!

That afternoon we met back up with everyone else and headed to a resort area that had some sort of tributary pond that had lots of rainbow trout we could feed. Of course, the ducks loved to swoop in and steal the food. The boys loved it either way.

So did this guy! (our little nephew, Jackson)

The next morning all of the guys went fly fishing (unfortunately, no pictures....Mark said it was gorgeous!) while the girls and kiddies went to an outlet mall. The shopping didn't last long for the boys and we ended up back at the park....playing on the playground and learning how to roll down the hill.

That evening, they were giving free gondola rides up the ski lifts so we all decided to head to the top to check out the views. The boys loved the gondolas! And they loved having our dear friend, Lisa, along with us too. She lives in Ft. Collins, CO and came down to join our vacation.

The view at the top was spectacular. Perfect for photos!

And back down at the base of the mountain we had a good time horsing around too.

On our last full day there, we took off on our second hike. This time the weather was beautiful! We hiked for about two hours on some trails around Lake Dillon and had a great time just catching up as a family. Our cousin, Reed, also joined us...he's a cadet at the Air Force Academy. Kolbe crashed and spent the majority of the hike sleeping. Probably a good thing!

Overall, this was fantastic vacation. We are so glad we did it! And lucky us...we get to do it all over again next summer for a big Gaschen Family Reunion in Winter Park, CO. Can't wait!

Third Stop: Dallas, TX

2010-09-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

The weekend following our weekend trip to Dalhart, we packed up the boys in the car and drove down to Dallas to visit Brian and Cristi, Mark's brother and sister-in-law. The recently moved back to Texas from San Francisco and we've been dying to get down to see them. (if only we'd have made it out to San Francisco before they left!) The first night, we we to eat pizza at a fun little eatery and wandered around the west end area of Dallas. Of course, I managed to forget my camera so no pictures!

On Saturday morning we drove up to Frisco to meet up with our friends, Jared and Katie, and their little boy Logan. They got word that Kolbe and Reagan's only desire on their visit to Dallas was to go swimming. They just happen to have the coolest neighborhood pool ever...complete with kiddie pool and splash pad....and decided to have us out for a swim. The boys had so much fun! And we'll admit it, Mark and I did too! Afterwards we went to a nearby mall for lunch and a carousel ride. The boys always love that! That afternoon we walked across the street from Brian and Cristi's apartment to the Galleria so the boys could play on the playground there. Again, lots of fun and shenanigans! For dinner, Cristi made us a delicious chicken spaghetti dish with artichokes and some of the yummiest garlic bread ever. She's quite the cook!

On Sunday we paid a visit to Ikea. Mark hated it. I loved it! What woman wouldn't? Especially a woman that loves all things domestic. The boys actually did really well there and got treated to some chips once we made it through the checkout. Back and the apartment Cristi made us fantastic panini sandwiches. Again, awesome cook. And finally, we got to attend mass at St. Ann's in Coppell before heading back home to Lubbock. It was a great little vacation! And we had a blast with Brian and Cristi. Such great hosts! Hopefully next time we can stay longer and maybe go ice skating at the Galleria! Roll the footage...

Rudy clowning around with Jared at the pool.

Katie and precious little Logan. We've never seen this guy cry! He's always this happy! And Katie is always this adorable. Jealous!

Family swim time!

Merry-go-round!

Look who wants to ice skate!

Playing at the Galleria

Rudy loved playing with the little wall puzzles after Kolbe showed him how they worked.

And Kolbe just spent all his time jumping off of everything. He's in that jumping stage of life. Ugh!

Second Stop: Dalhart, TX

2010-08-31T13:31:00.001-05:00

The second stop on our crazy summer tour was in Dalhart, TX. Mark and I returned from Midland at around 11pm and the next morning we took off for Dalhart with the boys. Mark and I have been together for about six years and in that time have never gone up to Dalhart to visit his grandparents. They always come down to Lubbock instead. But on the weekend of our visit, Grandma’s 80th birthday was being celebrated and we absolutely wanted to be in attendance. It was also the weekend of the big XIT Rodeo, which is quite the affair up in Dalhart. So not only did we get to celebrate Grandma’s birthday, but we also got to have a lot of fun at the city-wide bar-b-que and hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma’s house with lots of family. Though it was barely over 24 hours long, it was such a fun trip and I’m so glad we did it!

So sweet!!!

Kolbe enjoying the giant inflatable slide at the bar-b-que.

Mark's cousins Mika, Melisa, and Meagan

Kolbe has had a pair of boot since his second birthday, but Miss Lora decided that Rudy needed a pair for the rodeo too. Grandpa went out and picked these up for Rudy. Aren't they adorable!?! Cutest little boy boots ever!

And of course the kids had fun playing with all the balloons left over from the party.

And fighting over Miss Lora's car keys too!

There was also a lot of fun to be had with a bag full of action figures and cars that one of the other boy cousins brought up.

Grandpa never misses a good chance to dance!

That's Grandma on the left and her sister, Mary, on the right.

Grandpa has an old, old work truck parked out in front of his house. Kolbe had a blast sitting in it with Mark and steering the giant steering wheel!

And Mark took the opportunity to teach Adan and the other boys how to catch frogs! Such a rite of passage for boys!

Mark is DONE!!!

2010-08-26T12:53:00.001-05:00

First of all, I'm really behind on posting all the happenings of the Asmussen Family on here. I've literally had no time to sit down and do it. And considering my parents will be here in a few short hours to visit for my cousin's wedding, I probably should be finishing my cleaning instead of working on the blog. But I need a break, so here I sit....

Mark officially finished Physician Assistant school a few weeks ago on August 6th. We have one of those could-it-really-be? type of feelings. Mark has been a student for our entire relationship...dating included! But he's finally done! And we couldn't be prouder of him. He has accepted a job here in Lubbock working with a well-respected neurosurgeon and another P.A. that is one of the most magnificent people Mark has ever come across in the health care field. If it was me, there'd be no way I'd be cutting in to someone's brain or back...or even watching it! eek!...but he seems to like it and be very excited about starting his career on September 13th. He takes his board exams a week from today on September2nd so all prayers will be greatly appreciated!!!

Here are a few pics from his white coat ceremony which was sort of a final hurrah for his class. Again, I can't say it enough, we are SO proud of him!!!

Sorry, it's blurry. It was the best I could do!

Mark's whole class reciting their oath.

After the ceremony...yes, I got to attend this one alone.

And, of course, I made him pose for some cheesy pictures back at the P.A. School. Doesn't he look handsome!?! If you're ever in Midland, you have to go check out the P.A. School Tech has set up there. It puts every thing in Lubbock to shame. Not kidding.

Growing Up

2010-08-12T14:10:00.000-05:00

Right before our very eyes, our little boys are growing up. Not once, not twice, but three times in the past week total strangers have commented or asked about our twins. It's true. They're nearly to the point where they almost look that way.

In fact, I took Rudy to his eighteen month appointment a few days ago to find out that he's in the 75th percentile for height. Really? My kid? With three of four grandparents being on the shorter side, I didn't think it was possible. But I suppose he may have snatched up some of Mama and Pa's genes somewhere in there. He's nearly the same height as Kolbe now. His pediatrician also commented on how muscular he is. All that glorious baby fat. Melted away into little boy muscles. I was hoping he'd be more like eight when that happened. Not eighteen months.

And then there's Kolb. Well, for the most part, he's still the same size. Not much to write on there. Still short. Still skinny. Though he's now up to about twenty-seven pounds, I think! But boy, is he growing up in so many other ways. The things he says are hilarious. His physical coordination is still unbelievable. He's just such a fun kid. Not a baby. Really, it's kind of sad. Bittersweet, I suppose. He loves to help me around the house, gets himself dress from head to toe every day (seriously. undies, shorts, shirt, socks, shoes...his fine motor skills rock!), and gets breakfast out and ready for me every morning. Including the spoons! Just check out the pictures below and you'll see what I mean.

Rudy now feeds himself independently. This pic was a while back...from a bad run in with a carton of yogurt that he just had to eat on his own!

Grubby little monster!

Kolb doing work. He loves to push his stool over to the sink and work on dishes. For real! I didn't even teach him that one! He decided to do it all on his own. Lucky Mama!

I wonder if any of the local restaurants would consider hiring a two-year-old....

His new favorite craft project: anything with a glue stick.

This picture just kills me. I think it's the first one I took that I looked at and thought Whoa. He's a boy. A kid. Baby Kolbe is gone.

Summer Fun 2010: Part 3

2010-08-06T15:24:00.022-05:00

One evening while Kolb and I were busy, Mark took Rudy on a little walk and came home with a surprise: a turtle. The little boys were so thrilled and fascinated! Our house is just one street up from a local playa lake so we could have easily assumed that he lost his way from the lake and made it to our street. But a few days prior I had received a notice on our door from one of the neighborhood kids saying that they had lost their pet turtle and to call them if we found it. I scrounged up the notice and gave the number a call. A few minutes later the neighbor and her mother came over to get the turtle. I was in the shower at the time, but came out to discover that we still had the turtle. Apparently this was not her turtle, and while she volunteered to take the turtle and care for it, Mark told her that we'd let her know if we decided not to keep it. I'm not sure where in his right mind he came up with the idea that I'd be interested in investing in and learning how to care for a turtle, but he was sadly mistaken. The little guys and I marched right on over to the neighbor's and presented them with their new replacement pet. Mark claims I gave away Kolb and Rudy's first pet, but let's get real; I'd be the only one taking care of the thing, and if I'm going to take on a pet, it ain't gonna be a dang turtle! Kolb to this day will say, "Mama, neighborshouse have me's tugle?" I'm pretty sure he thinks our neighbor is named "neighborshouse."

Sorry the pics are kinda blurry...fingerprints from a grubby little paw.

Summer Fun 2010: Part 2

2010-08-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

I’ve seen or heard about the whole play-with-shaving-cream idea many times from other mom friends or on blogs I stalk, but had never given it a try with the boys. Kolbe usually won’t let Mark go anywhere near him when he’s got his “white beard” on in the mornings, so I worried that it wouldn’t go over well. Still, summer is a time to be outdoors and get messy so I coughed up a dollar for a can of Barbisol and let the boys go to town. At first they were slightly skeptical and didn’t want to try it until I started rubbing my hands in it. But once they gave it a go, it provided over an hour of ultimate fun. Originally I filled up a small tub of water for them to rinse their hands in, but Kolbe emptied out the huge tub that we store all the outside balls in and asked me to fill it up with water too. So it ended up becoming both fun with shaving cream and a mini-swim session. They were adorable and had a blast! And at just a dollar a can, I’m sure this in a summer activity we’ll be enjoying many more times in the years to come.

Summer Fun 2010: Part 1

2010-07-20T14:17:00.000-05:00

The boys and I have been up to our usual shenanigans. Summer time is SO much fun! I've captured a lot of things on camera, but have failed to post them on here so I'm going to try and make up for it by doing a few posts about our summer fun.

A few weeks ago, we had a streak of rain that lasted nearly two weeks long. We couldn't stay cooped up inside for that long, so I tried to let the boys go run in the rain when it wasn't too out of control. Of course, as any child would, they loved it!

4th of July

2010-07-07T12:47:00.000-05:00

4th of July weekend was a little bit of a bust in that Mark had to work and sleep out in Morton Friday and Saturday nights, and it rained non-stop. And by non-stop I mean literally 48 hours straight. To the point that they had to block of some of the roads by our house. But I’ve been really trying to not be one of those moms that doesn’t do things just because she doesn’t want to. If it’s something the boys would love though I think I’d hate it, I try to do it anyway. Case in point: the 4th on Broadway Parade. Mark was in Morton, but our good friends Ben and Erin agreed to go with me in the pouring rain to watch what remained of the planned event. As expected, the boys had a blast. And surprisingly, I actually had a good time too! Maybe it was seeing the complete excitement on the boys' faces that made it worthwhile.

Kolbe was thrilled to get to carry his own umbrella.

I feared that Rudy was going to be a wild man, but he actually stood with us the whole time and waved as cars, trucks, and people drove by.

Our church has a long covered walk way that faces Broadway, so we were able to hang out under there and stay somewhat dry.

A lot of the bigger kids who were standing down by the street watching would bring Kolbe and Reagan little prizes that people in the parade were throwing. Kolbe loves the blue frisbee.

And neither one of them could pass on the suckers!

And here's a little video of them enjoying it all!

I forgot my camera when we went over to Ben and Erin's for a BBQ on Sunday, but managed to snap a pic of the boys before mass in their 4th shirts that Pinkie sent them. Too cute!