Pics, Quotes, and Sweet Baby Miles

Drumroll please!

Meet the boy who has stolen our hearts...

Our nephew and cousin (and newest Bears fan)...

Miles Valentine Mlakar, born January 8. God's masterpiece! And beloved Big Papa Howard (Valentine) Mlakar's namesake.

We cannot wait to meet and love on this precious boy!

~~~

Here are some recent Instagram pictures and captions, as well as a few additional photos, for your enjoyment...

Three generations at the movie "Frozen" followed appropriately by ice cream!

This thing's a tease.

Brusha, brusha, brusha!

Some serious decibels going on right now. TGIF!

Missed church because of this. I think God will understand.

My Minne-SNOW-ta sweeties!

Happy birthday, Uncle Wy!

Crazy hair, don't care.

Snowed in twinsies.

Winter fun with neighbor friends!

Cheering on the Hawks in their bowl game. (The one in our house who buys the clothes is a Cyclone. Hence, girls wearing dad's oversized Hawkeye t-shirts!)

Hello, ladies...

~~~

Katelyn and Kendall (!) have said some funny and memorable things lately. We'll start with Kendie...

"Bye! Bye-bye! Bye!" - said every time I'm leaving her room after I put her down for a nap or at night.

And that's a wrap for Kendall's ;) This time around anyway!

Now for Katelyn's quotes...

"When I was a kid, this was my favorite song."

"This is how you make applesauce soup. Start with beans, add in lots of cheese, squeeze in some lemons (that makes it sour-ey), then add some milk, and there's also pistachios." (Apparently there's not a single apple in applesauce soup. And don't you love 'sour-ey'? Things can be spicy and savory, so why not sour-ey?!)

"Hear this, dad..." - her way of saying 'listen to this.'

Katelyn got her first paper cut a couple weeks ago and she kept calling it a "finger cut." Indeed, her finger was cut, not the paper :)

At bedtime, I said, "I love you to the moon and back, Kate" and she responded with, "I love you to the moon... wait, I can't go to the moon, mommy."

"I broke my nickels. I broke my nickels!" - aka "cracked my knuckles"

Me: "Tell me about your day at preschool, Kate!"

Katelyn: "It's a long story, mom." 

Mmmm-kay....

"When I grow up, I want to be a princess or a business woman. I will probably be a business woman though. I will work downtown with daddy. We will ride the bus together. And be busy with our business."

I just love and adore this sweet family I've been blessed with!!

17 Months Old

Better late than never, right?! Well then, a couple weeks ago, Kendall turned 17 months old!

She is still as sweet as can be and is definitely keeping busy taking in the world around her. She's saying more and more words every day and some of the recent additions include: "Yie" (rhymes with pie and is her version of Ry for Uncle Ryan), "boop" (used for both boots and book), "Mah-yone" (Malone), "Gaga" (grandma), "tee too" (thank you) and "hey-yo" (hello). She has yet to really put two words together, but based on her frequency of use, I think "hi" and "tate" (for Kate) will soon be squished together for a greeting. 

She's also making song requests. Yes, at 17 months. And one song in particular. Every time we get in the car, she says either "how-how-wow-wow" or "uppa-bubba" both of which refer to the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (the first is "how I wonder..." and the other is "up above the..."). The instant the song is over, she says, "Mama? Mama, uppa-bubba?" to request it again. The version we have is 36 seconds long. That's a lot of twinkle-twinkles, let me tell you! We're working on sharing the airwaves so everyone gets a bit of their preferred music.

Kendall is having a lot of fun at ECFE class we attend once a week. We play together for the first half of class (usually with the baby dolls or the indoor slide) and then the parents move into a separate room. She's done great with the separation and it's fun to see her interact and play side-by-side with her peers.

Kendall is a climber! She climbs onto our kitchen chairs like it's her job and has also been known to climb on the kitchen table. If she can't get up on something, she pleads, "Mama/Dadda, up! Up! Up!"

She's our early bird and after almost 17 months of it I think I've come to grips with the fact that it's probably not a phase... she's just an early riser! Kendall hits the sack hard at 7:30 pm and boy is she ready. She sleeps soundly all night but usually wakes up between 5 and 6 am. Oye. The 5 o'clock hour arrives a little too quickly sometimes, but I've been better about getting to bed earlier myself. Since she wakes up so early, she's usually ready for her first 45-minute nap around 8 or 8:30 which works out well since we take off for preschool, bible study, or the gym after she wakes up from it. Then she takes a second nap from 1:45-2:30. I don't think she'll ever be one of those 2 or 3-hour nappers, even when she shifts to one nap a day (which will probably be in the next couple months).

She's mostly wearing 18-month or 24-month clothes. I've put her in a couple 2T things of Katelyn's but they're still pretty roomy. She's in size 4 diapers and wears a size 5 shoe, but I think 6 is right around the corner. If you can believe it, this girl is still rockin just 4 teeth (two top, two bottom right up front)!

Kendall is a good eater when she's hungry and has been known to eat everything on her tray. Other times when her appetite isn't quite as big, she will pick and nibble at what's offered followed shortly by "Ahh-dahh! Mama! Ahh-dahh!" Her favorite foods are pretty much any fruit (pears, pineapple, and dried apricots are recent favorites), scrambled eggs with cheese (she can eat 2+ eggs on her own), cooked carrots, corn, mac and cheese, turkey, and yogurt. She's not a fan of getting messy though. Even one accidental swipe of yogurt on her pinky and she'll fuss to get it wiped off right away. As you may have guessed, finger painting isn't her favorite!

Kendall is quite social and will say "hi" to just about anybody when prompted and occasionally without prompting. Other times, she'll say "no" when we ask, "can you say hi?" She loves to give leg hugs and real hugs and will often be heard saying "awww!" while she doles out hugs or kisses. Where does she get that?! Ha!

She loves books and her favorites right now are two Sandra Boynton books ("Blue Hat, Green Hat" and "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa"). She enjoys toys that she can dump out and put things into like a shape sorter and her toy piggy bank with large plastic coins. We've been playing a lot this winter with a large bin of beans and the girls scoop and pour for long stretches of time. Kendall also likes to color pictures and use paints. Whenever she's working on an art project, she points to it and says, "Daddy." I ask her if it's for Daddy and she proudly responds, "yeaaahh!"Awww! (There I go again!)

Kendall Jean, you are just a joy! The way you love, the way you laugh, the way you know just what you want, the way you snuggle, we can't get enough. Thank you for all you bring to our family and all the tender moments you so generously share. Can you keep them coming for the next several decades? Please? Thank you. Happy 17 months to you, sweet girl!

2014: The Year of More and Less

Happy New Year! Is it really week two already?! Regardless, I hope you enjoyed celebrating the close of 2013 and the start of 2014. We sure did...

As a family, we've decided to make 2014 the year of more and less. We hope to...

Move more. Lounge less.

Pray more. Worry less.

Thank more. Whine less.

Dance more. Sit less.

Laugh more. Pout less.

Listen more. Interrupt less.

In other words, we plan to do more of what makes a difference and less of what doesn't. Wishing you more of what brings you joy in 2014!

Christmas with the Ridnours

Christmas feels like last month, doesn't it? Oh wait...

We spent several days in Ames over the holiday and had a great time with family, celebrating the birth of Jesus, and just being together. Rather than write about all we did, this is mostly going to be a photo-focused post. 

The things, in my mind, that made Christmas 2013 extra memorable were:

- Seeing Katelyn and Kendall take in the magic of this season through their wide-open minds (and eyes).

- Having some meaningful (and equally heart-warming yet powerful) conversations with Katelyn around what Christmas is really about and why the birth of Jesus is important to honor and celebrate. 

- Less truly is more. We scaled back our expectations, reduced the quantity of gifts for the girls, and committed ourselves to a select few holiday activities. And as a result, Michael and I agreed that our hearts felt especially full and peaceful this year. 

Enjoy the pictures!

~~~

Some of us celebrate with beer...

while some of us celebrate with yogurt...

Christmas Eve was spent reuniting with Uncle Ryan before heading to church. Kendall loved visiting the "bay-bay" in the manger. And Katelyn loved telling her, "That's baby Jesus, Kendall. He's Christ the Lord." 

Merry Christmas from our super-smiley family! Can you feel the holiday cheer here, folks?! Real life...

Everyone felt spoiled on Christmas morning!

Then it was off to Aunt Ronda and Uncle Joel's in Urbandale for Christmas day to visit with them, Gigi, Mason, Justin, and Collin.

We did our annual grab bag gift exchange in addition to a few special gifts for Gigi and the little girls.

Kendall and Kate each got a little doll. Kendall, with her heart for babies, did not put hers down all day!

Our clan...

Grandma Ridnour with all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren... so special!

I love these pictures of Papa and Gramma Kathy with Kendall :)

With a "lettuce turnip the beet" t-shirt on, you better believe we had a Christmas night dance-off...

The next day we were so fortunate that our family friends, the Crandells, opened up their gym (Success Gymnastics) for our girls to have some fun and burn off some energy. What a treat!

Does this picture say "kid at heart" or what?!

It was a Christmas full of blessings, great memories, and lots of laughs. But most of all, thankful hearts for all of it.

Santa's Visit

Ho, ho, ho! Santa visited our house a few days early this year since we were in Iowa on Christmas day. What fun to see what he brought the girls and a special morning from start to finish!

Katelyn was gracious in helping Kendall open her gifts and explaining what each one was.

Games are always a welcome gift - especially with our long, cold winters! We've definitely broken this game in over the last couple weeks.

That Santa. He must have known what a hot commodity the doll stroller is around our house. He brought Kendall her own stroller, so now the girls can have what we've dubbed "stroller parades" around the house. This was the inaugural one...

Katelyn's favorite gifts were a princess electric toothbrush and this train set.

Kendall favored these simple, inexpensive window gel clings from her stocking. Go figure!

We loved our "Christmas morning" at home and it was yet another big part of what makes this season so magical. Thanks for stopping, Santa!