PICTURES!!

This is DD after she DIDN'T sit on Santa's lap...but boy was she happy to get the goodie bag!

Drue Kathleen, Christmas morning, 2006. Opening her now favorite movie, Spirit.

Drue sitting in her chair with Diego. She has her pluggy and blanket waded up by her ear.

The kids under their table in the toy room

Drue in the snow, January 2007
So...I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of our beautiful babies!! I'll add a note later...the kids are downstairs with Daddy and Travis, not sure how long I should leave them down there without supervision! :)

Our realtor's competition showed our house this morning, so we went to Eldora for donuts and groceries. Shawn and my Dad came to get the last of our cows...That made DD sad, but she was glad to know her cows would be with "her" horses at Pa's farm. We'll never be 'without' animals with 2 grandpas that have cows, horses and pigs...Drue doesn't know the sheep are gone, we gave them away to a guy, and strangely, she's never asked about them...

Monday is my Grandpa Harold's 90th birthday so we'll be going over there in the afternoon for cake and ice cream.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the pictures! :)

Drue Kathleen is THREE!

DD's favorite color is pink...Right now anyway...Yes...our baby girl is THREE! We can hardly believe how she's grown into such a beautiful, intelligent, loving little girl. We talk about when she was born and how excited we were when we found out we were having her. She gets a real kick out of retelling the stories. On February 2nd, she Drue turned three! We had planned for a week or more that we were going to go to McDonald's for supper when her daddy got home...(she picked the place, obviously) She opened a present from her brother, a Dora bike helmet and pads. She and Dig enjoyed playing at McDonalds, even though neither of them go down the big slide, they just play on the steps and in the 'preschool' area with the tiny equipment, which I guess isn't so tiny to them! On the way home, DD said, "Poopy Butt never ever called me!" she had received a few birthday greetings and no one ever gets by the "Marilyn Monroe-like" renditions from my Aunt Cindy. Anyone with caller ID knows better than to pick up the phone. Actually, it's more entertaining to let her leave a message, then you can let visitors hear her and you can replay it several times for your own enjoyment. These messages are not your normal, 60 second 'happy birthday' songs...they go on...and on...and on...and if she doesn't feel you get the picture, she'll call back and leave kind of a "P.S." She's done it for years and you feel really neglected if you don't get a call...although, I don't think she's ever forgot anyone. Drue's song went something like this...after the whole generic happy bday part..."Drue...we love you...Drue...even the emus at the zoo love you...Drue..." you get the idea...but Drue had thought Great Aunt Cindy forgot her...luckily, there was a (long!) message waiting for her when we got home. She would have been bummed!

The next day was D's party. We had a lady from Wellsburg make her Diego cake and OH my goodness! Ryan and I were shocked at how good it looked. The lady didn't even know who Diego was, but Drue let her borrow a coloring book. I'll post pictures...(I know I say that all the time...but I WILL!) We almost didn't get the cake...Ryan's truck (a diesel) jelled up on him...for you city folk...it is way too cold here and the diesel gums up and the truck dies or won't start...anyway, it did it in the middle of the driveway. Ryan called my Dad but before he was even able to get here Ryan had it moved up to the machine shed. Drue's party went well. We had 18 people here. We missed Great Grandma Luiken, Great Grandpa Harold and Uncle Steve and Lisa, though! She requested tacos for her meal so we had "Walk-O Tacos" as DD calls them, along with a fruit salad. Drue got many nice gifts...she opened everything so quickly, I'm not sure she even knew what she got until the next morning when she was going through things. The morning after the party, I slept in and DD and Ryan played Dora Chutes and Ladders and made some spin art...both gifts from Aunts Trudi and Traci. Ryan thought I was dead or something, I never send Drue downstairs by herself, I just told her that if Daddy wasn't down there to come back up...2 minutes later I hear clomping up the steps, Ryan grabs my shoulder, I looked at him and he said, "oh, you ARE ok." So much for sleeping in!

Drue is so cute about turning 3. Anytime she sees a number three she'll say, "Close your eyes...ok open them" Even though she's still not showing you what it is she wants you to see and then gets all excited to show you a number 3! She also says, "Mom, DD's 3 now, but you can still hold me." She must sense I'm pretty emotional about the kids growing up. She also likes to compare her hands to Ryan's, she keeps saying, "almost Daddy!" Like one of these times, they'll be as big as his! When she was reminding me that she was three today, she asked, "Mom, what happened to 2?" I didn't understand at first, then I explained that, "you still have 2 and everything fun that happened when you were two...you learned to say a lot of words, you learned how to count, how to say your ABC's, you went to Sunday School, you did this, went here, etc..." I'm amazed at how little brains work...if she's three, where did 2 go...? I ask myself the same thing...WHERE DID MY TWO YEAR OLD GO? ughh.

We are having a conflict at bath time now. Drue would rather she bathed alone. Not for privacy sake, just it doesn't seem as "spa-like" with your brother in your way. She likes to lay out, sing songs with her ears under water, use her fancy new American girl body wash and shampoo stuff like that. Friday night after her solo bath, she put on her lotion, blow dried her hair, then painted her fingernails with her new polish. Yeah...she's three! Last night she painted her toes...and shhhhhhh.....Her daddy's, too!

We about called out an "AMBER ALERT" (again!!) for her blanket! This time he was missing an entire day! Thursday when we came home I saw it in her coat hood, (she wads it up and sticks it by her ear) I grabbed it...then I don't remember if I kept it or gave it to her, but from there I couldn't find it. She took a nap without it, went to bed without it. But by Saturday was asking where 'blank' was. I had gone out with a flashlight the night before looking in the car around the dog kennel, places I'd been. Nothing. Saturday morning Ryan looked everywhere in the house, nothing. After it got light out, Ryan went outside looking and came in smiling...he had DD reach in his coat pocket and there was 'Blank!' He had blown to the south side of our house...thank goodness he's no longer white! The little brown-ish guy was on a small grassy patch in the yard! I can't believe we found him, I again, was happier than DD. I danced and screamed! From now on, I'm carrying that blanket with my teeth, like Wilbur carried Charlotte's egg sack! :)

Dig has turned in to our little COOKIE MONSTER! Chocolate, anything sweet...he's on it! Usually...it's on HIM! He loves Oreos, cupcakes, Andes Mints...anything! He is definitely a little Grandpa Steve when it comes to snackin'!!! Don't think I'm a bad Mom...he also LOVES apples, kiwi, mandarin oranges, you know...the good stuff for snacks, too! Right now he gets the biggest thrill out of picking out, unwrapping, then putting a Starburst in his Dad's mouth...he literally shakes with excitement! You'd think he was eating them. He has the cutest expressions and is such a lover. I got him a shirt this week that reads, "Ladies Man." I got it big so he can wear it next summer...We have such cute kids!

Well, Ryan must be asleep downstairs, I don't hear anything...maybe Drue fell asleep with him...they were watching a (duh) Diego movie and having some juice. OHHHH>>>>>>> I forgot....While Lane and I were napping today, DD and Ryan made their first ever snowman!!! The snow wasn't really snowman making snow, so they just kind of piled it up, but they used a carrot for nose and tops of Ryan's pops for buttons...she was so proud...I'll post pics :) We're supposed to get a lot of snow this week, so maybe we'll try again next weekend.

Blessings to all! ~the Luikens

Ok, NOW it's cold!!

I said brrrrr last post...I was wrong...it's FREEZING now! Ryan's cow waterer was frozen this morning and it hasn't frozen in all the 5 years we've been married, so you know it's cold! He wasn't too excited to get that fixed but he had to.

Not a lot has happened since my last post. Tuesday was coffee at our house. Usually, before our friends come over I have Drue put her blanket in a safe place, like on the steps going upstairs or on the laundry room counter. I didn't do that this week. When it came time to nap, we looked everywhere. I had already picked the house back up after the tornado of play group and didn't see it. So, I ran out to the Expedition to see if we left it there. I emptied out the toy boxes in the toy room, I went through all the laundry in the dryer thinking I accidently threw it in the wash, I even went through the garbage! Yeah, that's how important this blanket is! The whole time I was looking for it, I was getting sad thinking it was gone forever. I kept asking DD if she remembered where she had it last. She said, "Mom, just forget it, I'll get a new blankie!" I was shocked! I knew she couldn't possibly be serious, but she assured me she was. So, we picked out another blanket from our stock pile and she was content. Later that afternoon, we took our dog, Cash to the vet to be neutered. Well, Cash is DD's dog. The idea of him spending the night there did not go over well with her. When the nurse took his leash, Drue looked at me and just started crying. She sobbed...I mean SOBBED the entire way from Ackley to Eldora. Half way home I look back and she's asleep...then a whimper...then a full blast sob! I try comforting her, letting her know Cash is coming home, etc...then she yells ..."This blanket doesn't work in the car!!!" She was right! We got to Mom's and she was distracted by the toys and just a change of scenery so the blanket didn't come up again. When my mom got home DD wanted to go out and feed the dog with her, while she put her coat on she was jabbing about losing her blanket, the fun she had at play group, etc...then I hear an "UGGHHHHH!" I look up, she's smiling a big smile and holding up her little tattery blanket! He was in her coat pocket!!! PHEWWWW! All is good again!

Lane has had a cold the last 3 days. Runny nose and crabby. You can hear that his head is stuffed up. I'm sure it's terrible not being able to tell anyone what hurts. Plus, he can't eat well or nurse well because he has to hold his breath! He had fun Saturday morning playing with dog food on our back porch. He took it out of Cash's bowl, then lined it up on the floor and piled in on the toybox my dad built me when I was little, (we use it for outside toys and pop boxes) He sure was proud of his work. He didn't even try to eat it! Ryan's dad stopped over later that morning, I'm sure he wondered why we left spilled dog food all over...

I don't remember if I mentioned in the last post, but last Saturday, we showed the house again. It was to a couple who had been out twice before. Actually, the lady was the very first person to look at it back when we put it for sale. The showing went very well. It was very long, about 2 hours. Our realtor said she hasn't had a 2 hour showing for a long time...too bad for her, it was a very cold day! I guess they have some estimates to get, like siding and demolition of some out buildings and then they are going to get back to the realtor. Hopefully, they too, would put an offer on the house. All in good time. Actually, it wouldn't be bad if our house didn't sell until Ryan was home more to get some stuff cleaned up outdoors...It's all in God's hands.

Friday, Drue was an absolute angel! I am honest...I think it's the best day she's had since Dig was born. Maybe her bout with the terrible twos is coming to a close...no, she's not terrible, but yes...she's spoiled...how does that happen!?!?! :) She was just so good about saying please, thank you, being gentle with Dig, sharing...everything! Then Lane got feeling sick and after dinner I said, "you know, maybe it would be a good idea if, after our bath, we had some freezies." (you know...the snacks we'd buy at the pool...Mr. Freezes) Those are a huge hit year round in this house...Drue looked at me and said, "Mommy, I was talking to God that Digga's throat would be better and we'd get freezies!" I about melted! It's the first time she's mentioned talking to God privately. Such a great ending to a great day.

Dig received a Baby Hawkeye movie from Aunt Trudi at Christmas. It's like a Baby Einstein, but about sports played at U of I, yellow and black, numbers, marching band music, you get the picture...anyway, Lane LOVES it! I ask,"Dig, do you want to watch Dora or Go Hawks?" His reply is always, "hawk hawks!" Sounds a little like a pig oink, but I know what he means! Then he goes and gets the DVD case. He does the cutest, silliest dance when he hears the fight song and he screams like a girl when he sees I'm putting the movie in. Drue also loves the movie. She knows her ABC's so it's very fun for her to do the I-O-W-A ...Fight Hawks Fight cheer. Her Mommy and her like to pretend we're cheerleaders when we watch it! :)

Ryan and I went birthday shopping Sat. night. We found a Diego bike at KMart in Cedar Falls. She knew she was getting a bike but didn't know what kind. Ryan decided to give it to her today since he'd be gone on her b-day. He went out to the truck to get it after breakfast this morning. She didn't know what he was doing and was jabbering at me then turned around and saw the box and just froze...then came and held my leg, like she was scared of it. It's a little big, but Ryan chose the bigger one so she can grow into it this spring and summer. I also found Diego plates and napkins, she has no idea about them. Her party is Saturday, she'll probably be ticked at us for actually USING them...God forbid we get them dirty, or worse yet...throw them away! :)

Today, Drue helped me make potato soup and while I was doing something, she was standing on a chair up to the counter and took a bunch of the spices out from the cupboard and pretended to put them in a cup and stir them. She was talking to herself about what she was putting in, how much needed to go in "a half a cup of this it says," ...I hope not...it was garlic powder!...then she looked at me and said, "Mom, 'tend I'm Rachael Ray." She loves that girl! She'll sit and watch her some mornings and tell me she's pretty, Grandma thinks she's funny, etc... So, we pretended she was Rachael Ray. What a girl we have!

I caught myself just smiling today. ( I told you that's why I have these new wrinkles...or maybe I just grew dimples!) I was picking up pieces of sausage and toast off the floor from breakfast and just thought, "what a great life I have." I mean...Today, for example, it's cold outside, there's snow on the ground, inside, our home is nice and cozy, we had a warm breakfast, coffee was in the pot, the kids are (relatively) healthy, the house is clean, kids are playing, everyone was home, nothing major on calendar to do, nothing to complain about, no major worries.

Life is good. Praise God!

BBBBRRRRRRRrrrrrr

For you folks reading this who do not live in the Midwest...it's FREEZING here! Literally. I think it was about 10 or 11 degrees yesterday. Windchills made it feel like negative , oh, I don't know...40!! Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but whooo...y! COLD. I'm sure the people in town think I'm nuts, because I still let the kids play outside a couple of days ago. It was just for a few minutes, we probably spent more time bundling up with snowpants, boots, mits, hats, and coats, than we actually spent outside. The kids loved it though. Then it's always great coming in and having some hot cocoa. Definitely feels like winter here.

The kids have had a great week. Must be the snow. Drue has been singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Jesus Loves Me" all by her self. She is so stinkin cute. Santa got Dig a rug that you drive your cars on, looks like a little town, with roads, etc... Drue likes to drive to the church. We sing the above named songs and she says a prayer...always..."God and Jesus, thank you for my food, Amen." That's the prayer I grew up saying at meals. My mom actually made it up when she was just a little girl, probably not much older than DD, if any. Lane also folds his hands and "prays" aloud. He does this anytime we sit at the table, whether it's to play play-dough, color or actually eat...too cute!

Lane is also saying more words. He says, "Nah-Nah" for Nanny, "boo-boo" for fish...This one took me a while to figure out. I finally had to ask his interpretor...DD. She told me what he meant and she was right... As usual, Dig continues to have several bumps and bruises. He is always speeding. He is a dare devil and nothing scares him. He reminds me so much of my brother, Steve, from the cute little grin, to the temper tantrums, right down to the 'flux capacitor' running down the middle of his forehead! :)

Drue has been waking up the last week, whispering, "mommy, is today my birfday?" I don't know if she's looking forward to the party or if she's worried because I informed her that when she's three, she no longer needs her plug. We received a letter informing us we can register her for preschool at our church, but we are waiting until she's 4. She definitely doesn't NEED to go. She's brilliant, (I know, I'm her Mom...) plus, we go to play group and do other activities where she interacts with children, and I'm a teacher for Pete's sake...she's not just sitting around chewing bubble gum and watching tv...ok, she is chewing a lot of gum! :) I told her that she can go to preschool if she wants, she kind of fussed about it and asked some questions, then I assured her she wouldn't be going until she was 4...a moment of silence, then she pipes in, "Or maybe...SIX!" :) She will once again go to Sunday school this winter, then start going to the 3 year class after the 'orientation' classes are done. She sooo enjoyed it last year, and I think her boyfriend, Gus, (real name...Angus!....for REAL!) will be there again.

We had some exciting happenings on January 10th. Our realtor called and told me we had an offer on our house. Ryan and I countered and the couple accepted it the next day. However, this in NO way means our house is sold. We are not getting our hopes up because the couple has to sell their home first and the market comes to a screeching hault in the winter. The good news...we know we have an interested buyer, if their house takes longer than the contracted 90 days, it's no biggy. They're still interested and they know what we want for it. Another thing that could happen is another couple offering cash would make and offer and we'd null the first one. For now we're just spreading the word that their house is for sale and hoping they have some luck. We had a huge dumpster brought out to clean out the machine shed. That's Ryan's job and since none of the buildings were cleaned when we purchased the acreage or even when Ryan's dad purchased it...there is a lot of JUNK! Ryan wants to get it done so if/when our house does sell, he can spend his weekends working on our new home instead of cleaning here. So that's what we'll be up to the next few months.

Last Friday, Drue had Campbell over to play. Then we had her parents and sisters join us for supper. I made hamburger soup, beer bread and apple crisp...felt pretty Amish, I did! :) Tomorrow night, I'm going to a movie with Pam and Cam...it's been forever since I've seen an adult movie...it's a chick flick to boot!! :)

Would love to hear from some of you...Stay cozy! ~kabl

Happy Birthday, Ryan Dean...

Yesterday was Ry's 32nd birthday...a guy at work thought he was 42 and thought for sure Ryan was joking with him when he told him how old he was...I think it's time he shaves that beard if it's making him look THAT old! :) Yes, I love everything Amish...but this is a little different! I think I would be the first Amish woman to demand my husband shaves his beard and has a goatee...I've never seen Ryan without facial hair, well in pictures, but not personally, and I honestly, don't ever want him not to have his goatee. I miss it though, this Canadian Lumberjacker look is a bit much...BUT, I don't let him tell me what to do with my hair, so for his birthday, we got him a beardtrimmer... He's so cute when he shaves (leaving the goatee) ughhhh.....I love that! Guess I have to wait til spring...

Well...Since it's 2007, means I haven't written since LAST year! I'll be succinct about what has been happening around here lately...

Obvious big news was Christmas...We had several Christmases. Sat. the 23rd was at Ryan's parents'. We enjoyed watching DD open EVERYONE'S presents. Sunday, Drue and I made cookies, she frosted and sprinkled. Since we don't have a chimney, we hung an old skeleton key on a pretty ribbon and put it on the door knob. It's a magic key that Santa uses to get in when we're sleeping. Drue put out the cookies and her and Ryan's favorite drink...(Santa's too!) MILKNOG and then we went to Mom and Dad's. I took DD in, Ryan took Dig. He put Dig down, Mom took off his coat, I am taking off DD's and all of a sudden I hear a few "oooooohh's" Ryan walked back in from getting the presents from the car and I said, "While you were gone, Lane got the flu." So, we didn't go to church. I was worried the entire time that I was going to get the flu or Drue would...I don't do the flu at ALL. I haven't thrown up in 20 some years and am not going to start now. I freak out. I can't even believe I don't pass out when the kids get sick! :) Anyway, I also didn't get to eat any of Mom's prime rib, so I'm requesting we have it next year, too. I was too afraid to eat, in case it would be coming up later!??@@**&! We (Grandma & Grandpa Balvanz were there too) stayed home from church and opened presents earlier than normal. Lane was sick about 6 times, but only lasted about 3 or 4 hours and he was fine. He wasn't sick once we got home. The next day was Christmas, DD was so tired. She slept in and then opened her and Lane's presents. Lane felt much better so we decided to go to my granparents' in Dayton. But...before we left, Ryan showed Drue and Lane that there was reindeer poop on our deck!!! Along with a bunch of half eaten carrots that DD had left for Rudolph. He was kind of a messy eater! But, oh my...that sure made DD's Christmas. She had been religiously watching the old "Rudolph" movie...we're talking, a couple times a day...so this was big stuff knowing he had actually been at HER house! Since everyone was taking Christmas things down as soon as the day was over, we had to expalain to Drue that Christmas was over and they'd be back up next year, she chimed in, "no, Cimpus isn't over, still have to go to Gamma Mair's (Mary's)" We had Christmas with Balvanz's the Saturday before New Year's, so now, it's officially over...The kids (and Ryan and I ) received so many nice gifts. We sure missed Steve and Lisa though. Ryan likes beating Steve at our annual bowling night... Steve is sure to give him a good punch or two and there are usually some pretty good laughs...hope to see them soon!

We showed the house the Friday after Christmas and the following Thursday. I looked at a house for the first time. Ryan and I are going together to see a couple houses this weekend. We aren't going to do anything until our house sells, but thought we'd look to see what's out there...which isn't much. Hopefully, if/when our house sells, there will be more options. It's fun thinking of different paint colors, decorating ideas, etc...Even if our house doesn't sell, I think we'll be painting, Ry says he's ready for some different colors...which isn't really that 'manly' of a thing to say, so don't tell him I told you that!

We spent New Year's with some friends from my class...Chad and Syd, Curt and Carey, and Kosanke's. We went to a bar in Eldora, saw a hypnotist...hilarious! Oh my! So funny I about wet my pants several times...which maybe isn't a big deal, because I've had that problem alot since the kids were born!! My kegals are in poor shape!! No running or jumping (or sneezing or coughing...on and on...) for me!! :) Anyway, good time dancing and visiting with friends.

Monday we went in to Mom and Dad's about 10...we KNEW we had to be there relatively early because there was SNOW on the ground!!! We packed up the snow pants, mitts and hats and were met at the door by 2 very excited munchkins!! Drue just screamed...she was so glad we had thought to bring the snow pants. Ryan and I , the kids and my Dad all played outside while Mom cooked...(sorry, Mom) We pulled DD on a sled, Dig doesn't like it but he sure loved riding in the sleigh Dad built me for my birthday. He actually fell asleep in it. Dad was pulling him in the neigboring yard and he brought him over to me, I went to pick him up to take him to bed and he kicked and cried. He was so cozy and relaxed. I don't think he could bend his arms or legs with his big ol' coat, snowpants and snowboots. We have some really cute pics.

This week we had coffee at our house. Minus Caryn. She was due to have a baby April 2nd or 3rd and ended up having a C-section on Christmas Eve. Baby Gabe is doing well. He weighed 1 pound, 5 ounces. He is so tiny. His little head is smaller than a tennis ball. We're praying that things continue to go well and that God is with Clint, Caryn, Maddie, Trevor and Gabe as they endure many ups and downs in the days, weeks, months ahead. Gabe will be in Des Moines for at least 3 months, which means many struggles here at home and with traveling. Please keep the McMartins in your prayers.

After coffee, the kids and I ran to IA Falls to eat at McDonalds, they sure have fun even though both are too afraid to go up the big slide. Then we went and got Ry's birthday gift and make his cake. Drue decorated it with bright yellow frosting, sprinkles, sugar jungle animals and I wrote Daddy on it...our original idea was to have it be a Hawkeye cake but when DD saw the edible sugar tiger, panda and monkey heads...she made an executive decision...she does that alot! :)

Well...you're caught up...no one else ever got sick, we're all doing well, keeping busy and enjoying the giggles.

Happy New Year! ~Kristy

The BIG one!

Yup. I'm older than I was at my last post. December 10th, I turned the big 3-0! Not too eventful, not even that traumatic. I don't like the sound of it, but what the heck. I definitely wouldn't want to be 20 again, though. We went to church, went to my parents' for dinner and then Ryan's parents brought pizza to our house for supper. Ryan and I went shopping and out to eat the night before. Just can't believe I'm not in my 20s anymore. Looking back, my 20's were rough on me...which may explain my new found wrinkles next to my lips. They are (for sure!) from smiling and laughing...that's what I'm telling my self anyway...Better to be happy and smiling than crabby and down in the dumps! My early 20s were probably when I felt the 'oldest.' I went through things a lot of people have to experience, but usually not at such a young age...maybe this example explains the 3 WHITE hairs I made Ryan pluck from my head a few months ago!!! Face it...I'm old....but not as old as RYAN!!!! :)

I can't remember a lot of the last week. Don't know why. For some reason, Ryan and I both thought it was a loooonng week. I'll be glad for March to be here! We have our Christmas shopping done, the house is all decorated, the kids are getting terribly excited...oh, that's one thing we did...or did I tell you about that already, we went to see Santa. He was at the Eldora Welcome Center...(dumb spot to have it but oh well.) Drue was all psyched up to see him, assured us she would, blah...blah... well, Ryan puts the truck in park, we unbuckle and Drue says..."I'm not getting OUT!" Like, I thought we maybe could do this from the car...Well, we went in, she held on to me like a monkey and wouldn't let go. She cried and screamed when we tried to let Lane sit on his lap. DD said, "Digga doesn't want to sit on Santa's lap!" So, we didn't make anybody do it. Luckily, she still got her Santa Bag and we walked out. I have the funniest picture of her outside the building, smiling her biggest, proudest smile...right after she said, "That was FUN guys!!" Seriously.

I had TTT last night, we had hundreds of cookies to give to our camp girls. A few friends and I went out for an hour afterwards. It was nice to have some adult talk...even though all we talked about were our kids. The big discussion was preschool and Junior Kindergarten. Ughh... Can't believe it's that time already! I can't bear to think about it. Breaks my little mommy heart!

We're looking forward to a pretty boring weekend. Nothing on the calendar. Probably wrap some more presents and we may try to get together with some friends and let the kids play. We also will be doing some light cleaning/ laundry folding, etc... because we show the house again on Monday night.

I suppose I better go... My afternoon plans changed...I was supposed to go to IA Falls and pick up a 1/2 of a hog (for you city girls...it's frozen pork) as part of Ryan's Christmas bonus. He told me to be at the office between 9 and 3 today. I get there, tell them who I am, explain why I'm there, etc...The lady looks at me like she doesn't have a clue and then I find out it's TOMORROW... So, I call my lovely husband and tell him and we got a good laugh. Unfortunately, Mom took the afternoon off so I could run some errands without kids, put the 3 big boxes of meat away without kids falling down the basement steps, etc... So, they took a wagon ride to Deer Park and I'm putting clothes away and doing my 'chores.' :) like feeding Cash...our dog, and the cats, Thomas, Turtle, Pickles and Baby Pickles. :)

Have a safe weekend! ~kbl

My love for Kenny

You know it's officially "Christmas" season around this house because I have dug out the Kenny Rogers Christmas CDs....Oh, I love that man! Not the "new" plastic face Kenny, but that cute, old, chubby Kenny...ughhh, I thought he was so handsome in the good ol' days. :) I get so much energy listening to Christmas songs. I can clean in no time...in fact, I remember Mom listening to seasonal stuff out of season to get a quick buzz. :)

Since it's been almost a month since I've posted, I'll fill you in on some Drue and Lane happenings....

We enjoyed a nice meal at our friends', Todd and Pam. I travelled up to Ryan's work headquarters in MN with him the Wed. before Thanksgiving. We played a compelling game of "Name that Tune & Singer" on the way home while Ryan was scanning the radio stations. Hard to believe he won...Well, I think he won, I was starting to get suspicious when every rock song we didn't know he'd shout out "Corn!" or some other strange group that I didn't even know he knew existed! I couldn't prove him wrong so he got the point. Bummer.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents' with both sets of grandparents and my aunt Cindy, Randy, Jamie, her boyfriend, Brian and Scott. 16 people total, I think. Yummy! I ate too much as usual, but there's nothing better than turkey and mashed potatoes!

Oh, I forgot a story about what happened with DD the day Ry and I were in MN. She was having a "gonna do it myself" day. She got dressed herself, went potty herself, several things, including painting her nails by herself. This isn't usually a new thing, she actually paints her nails often, the only thing is that someone opens the bottle for her and supervises the activity. She went in my Mom and Dad's room and did it all her self, this time! We know this because her Little Tykes vanity is covered....COVERED in bright pink polish, so was the roll of toilet paper she grabbed to quickly clean it off her hands! When we got home that evening, she proudly showed us her hands, her nails were not polished anymore, more like wiped off and the only trace of paint was around every nook and cranny of her hand. It was like someone sat down and painted an outline of her hand...very cute though. I won't be able to ever take that polish off her vanity for sentimental reasons. There are perfect little finger marks on it where she tried to wipe it off. Mom is so patient with her and Drue never thought for a minute that she was in trouble or doing something wrong. She was just doing one more thing by herself that day! :)

Lane has a new shirt that says "I do all my own stunts" on it. I thought this was appropriate after his fall from my folks' open stairs...for those of you who don't know, he fell off the sides of the steps, not down the steps. This was over a month ago, he's fine, never even had a bruise, but gave his mom a scare! Dig is also getting very excited about going potty in the Big Girl (soon to be Big Boy) chair. If I say, do you need to go potty, he'll run in and hit the toilet lid, I even sit him on it and he acts like he's going, grabs for toilet paper, sticks it between his legs then gets off and he flushes it. He'll also grab a diaper if I say, "are you poopy?" and he is. He'll be 15 months old on Dec. 15th so it will be about 3 more months before we actually start potty training, but so far, he's enjoying exploring the bathroom!

We put our tree up the Fri. after Thanksgiving, which my friend, Amber has officially dubbed, "Christmas Tree Day." Ryan and DD put the tree up, the kids and I decorated it. Looks very cute. It always seems so cozy with the tree up. I always feel like there is such a void when we take it down. Of course, we listened to Kenny, and other Christmas tunes, had cocoa, nibbled some candy canes and watched Lampoon's Christmas vacation, as we do every year. We also watched the kids' Nativity story movie before bed. That weekend we wrote letters to Santa. Drue told me what to write...something to the extent of..."Dear Santa, Happy Ha-Ho! (??) DD was a Parrot for Halloween. For presents I would like, a Deigo Rescue Center, a Princess camera and a pink sled. I'll make you cookies. DD is nice to Dig. I'll have carrots and apple for the deer. The magic key will be hanging on our door knob. I love you." When it comes down to it, I know she won't sit on his lap or anything. She does call the local telephone company's Santa hotline though.

One night I was in the bathroom and here comes DD with a section of the ribbon from our tree...on the other end...her brother. They were giggling, running, laughing, screaming, and yes...don't forget the occasional cry. I think someone was a horse...because while I was fixing supper, I saw Ryan crawling like a horse with a little cowgirl on him. Then I had to put a little water in an Easter basket bucket and I saw Ryan had a piece of the 'straw' from DD's play broom in his mouth. Dad was a horse. He soon had the tree ribbon tied to him so he wouldn't escape and when I went in the living room to let everyone know dinner was ready, I was quickly corrected. I said, "DD can your horse come in to eat?" "no, he's tied up right here, not get out." "Can't he come have some spaghetti and garlic bread so he's not hungry?" "Actually, Mom...Horses eat hay!" I stand corrected. Although, he did have to wait to be untied, the poor horse eventually got his supper.

Friday, December 1, The kids and I drove to Corydon to see my friend Heather and her girls. Drue was so excited to see Sarah and little Suzie sure loves Lane. We went to a photographer and had the kids' picture taken in front of the gingerbread house. It was quite entertaining watching Myra chase after 5 kids! The kids loved it...ok, not Lane. He cried the entire time so the pics. will be very entertaining. I was hoping for a candid shot, like the kids looking at the house, candy, etc...but Myra tried to get them all smiling, looking, etc...a little more drama than anticipated, but the pics are sure to be a hit with such a cute group! I'll be sure to scan the pic on when I get it. Myra has such cute little scenes every season, I'm sure we'll be back several times.

Ryan hunted today (Sat...I guess technically, it's Sunday now) He shot at a deer but missed. I don't know if he'll go out tomorrow or not. My Mom and DD and Grandma Mary and I are going on the Eldora Tour of Homes, all the houses will be decorated for Christmas and the money goes to the new aquatic center. I'm looking forward to it, but it's supposed to be freezing cold. We'll stop at the Lodge at Pine Lake for cocoa, appel cider and cookies before returning home. My Dad is going to play baby/grandpa-sitter and watch both Lane and Grandpa Harold. Unless Ryan doesn't hunt.

We showed the house Saturday morning and have another showing Monday morning. I'm so proud of our realtor. She's shown the house at least once a week the entire month it's been on the market. Good incentive to always have the house clean and something yummy baking in the oven...although, she's known to eat a muffin or two before she leaves! :)

Ryan and I have a lot of shopping yet to do... Always seems to creep up on me. Well, since I probably will hear a little boy crying for me in the next hour, I better go back to bed.