Happy St. Patrick's day

Boxes of Fun

People are starting to ask about Chloe's first birthday party, and I'm having a hard time coming up with a wish list of gifts. After all, who needs gifts when the simplest things give the most fun?

Daddy's little helper

This past weekend we (Bryan) planted three raspberry bushes along the side of our house. Katie loves helping out her dad. Check out the new pink gloves she mostly wears while helping.

Swimming Before Bible Study

We love the Holmbergs' home!

Family photo

Here is our only photo of all four of us.

Daddy has an owie

Tonight I smashed my toe in the garage door while playing with Katie. I'm ok. As I was fixing my owie, Katie decided she also had an owie and took off her socks and fixed her wounds as well as mine.

He has a way with words

Last night, Bryan and I were talking about our upcoming delievery. I expressed my hopefulness of having our baby by VBAC instead of cesarean, which happened with Katie.

In his typical, blunt manner, Bryan said, "I think they'll have to dig this one out, too."

A Weekend at Lake Geneva

A couple of weekends ago, we jumped in our minivan and headed to Lake Geneva resort for an AmFam-sponsored, work-filled weekend for Ashley and a fun weekend for Bryan and Katie.

Katie and Gianna loved the waterpark. And Bryan loved spending time with the girls! If you disregard the insane Saturday night when 1) our roommate went the ER for a potential heart attack and 2) when Katie screamed and cried from 1am-3am...we had a nice retreat!

(Luckily, Curt only had a case of isolated pnemonia. However, the inept ER workers had to run 2 EKGs because the first one didn't work. Hopefully they don't charge Curt for both of them!).

Katie's 18 Month Check-Up

I'm so glad that Melissa posted on Jackson's 9 month checkup--it reminded me to post Katie's most recent data. (Feel free to click on Jackson's name for comparison's sake).

Height: 32.5" (74th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs, 2 oz (18th percentile)
Head circumference: 43.25 cm (0.7 percentile)

Katie loves to snuggle with Daddy...


...and she likes to stack things--especially containers!

Toddler Fun

It's cold outside--so we're trying to keep as entertained as possible in our cozy house.

Katie loves playing with her animals. She stacks them in her new sled and in rows.


Diapers were on sale last weekend at Babies R Us for $3.50 per jumbo pack AND 1 pack of free wipes for every 3 packs bought!! We stocked up for the post-natal "survival" period.


She loves building and tipping piles!

Bryan's Cake

I'm guessing that Bryan's work day will be super-busy, as it has been the last couple of weeks. Therefore, I'll go ahead a post a picture of his cake for your viewing pleasure. The base is actually a brownie, and the "shirt" is homemade cream cheese frosting. The necktie was a little trickier--it involved drawing a tie pattern, melting chocolate and shaping the chocolate. Thanks, Better Homes and Gardens, for the cake idea! (To the side are chocolate-dipped ginger snaps. I also filled some ginger snaps with extra frosting, and these turned out delicious, too).

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

A few things we've done already to celebrate his birthday:

1. A hot breakfast with sausage and (from scratch!) biscuits
2. Hugs and snuggles from Katie
3. A surprise visit to the Milwaukee office with a gingerbread latte and cookies in tow.
4. A sweet father-daughter picture to be framed (the same one below)
5. Kisses from Mom and Katie

More things to follow once he gets home tonight...

An Early Christmas

We celebrated an early Christmas yesterday with grandma Bell. Katie got some cool presents from her grandma. A handmade blanket with matching pjs was the best one. After wards every one played til nap time.

Katie's Playhouse

Yesterday Katie had a very fun and busy day. Katie was able to play with grandma Bell, Peyton and a cardboard box.

Grandma Bell came over to exchange Christmas gifts before heading out to see Darryl and Nicole in Seattle. I got to babysit Peyton as his parents and Ashley were working. As you can see I had no fun yesterday.

Friday Night Pizza

It's rainy and cold outside! Instead of going out for a typical Friday night ice cream sundae, we catered in pizza.

A cul-de-sac walk with Dad

Refining our cupcake skills

Tonight we made cupcakes for an event after tomorrow's service. Ashley baked, Bryan frosted, and Katie got all messy!

Getting Some Sun and Horeb Park

Bryan and I acted like kids on Saturday and went to the local pool together. I tanned nicely--he burned nicely!

Favorite Pewaukee Hotspots: Bubba's and the Beach

After dinner, the three of us went to Bubba's to share our beloved Cookie Monster sundae. We drove by the beach and decided to stop--after all, Katie has never been in the sand. She loved it, and she whined every time we took her away from the water!