12 days?

as i always, i made BIG plans to start blogging more - at least every other day. i don't know where the time goes! i want to follow along with ali edwards' "a week in my life" project just so i can figure out how time flies so fast.

we've been busy, but that's the norm by now. last weekend anna finished her state project for school. she had to research the state of colorado and decorate and fill a shoebox with facts from the state. she did a great job! especially because terri sent us a ton of information and GREAT stuff to use. i HAVE to get a picture of it to post as soon as i can. kurt was able to do some of his school work from home this week so i got to have lunch with both girls. wow, that lunch room gets LOUD!!! it was very interesting to see the contrast between the different classrooms. i'm feeling good about anna's teacher. she seems to really challenge the kids without overwhelming them too much. anna has said she's bored sometimes in school, which worries me, but then she says it is hard for her at times too. her teacher isn't perfect, though. in a few weeks they are having spirit week, and she's going to let anna borrow a nebraska shirt since she's a huge nebraska fan (most of her family lives in omaha). i didn't think we'd have to worry about anna being brainwashed about nebraska down here!!! we thought we'd have her converted back to a hawkeye by now. i guess it would help if they could win, though, huh? :P ella loves her teacher at school too. i'm a little worried that ella isn't quite where anna was at this point in her kindergarten year. i'm hoping to start working with ella more at home too.

wilson is good! he's always cracking me up. he loves to put his blankie on his head and say, "ooo (where) are you me?" he's also always asking "whee (what) 'appened?" he always wants to ride in daddy's llllue car too. that one really cracks us up. he can say black just perfectly but he always says lllue. his favorite lunch now is "daddy's sandwich." he loves to share with daddy - it's not the same if i make the exact same sandwich, it has to be daddy's first. i always have to sing "rock a bye baby" to him now before he goes to sleep. that's far from my favorite, but thankfully my neighbor cindy taught me to sing "mommy will catch you, cradle and all" so it's not so scary. lol! speaking of cindy, we've been walking with her about 3 mornings a week so i haven't been getting up quite so early. wilson loves walking with her 2 year old talia. he talks about her all of the time at home. but then when we're walking together he's always arguing with her. they are always pretending to see monkeys in our trees too. they're so cute!

well, i think i had more to write, but we're waiting for kurt and the girls to get home from church so we can eat but wilson is having a HARD time waiting. i better go help him find a good snack that's not the sucker he's begging for right now. here are a few pictures before i go...(the fancy frames are from karen russell from the polka dot potato digi shop, and the simple frames are actions from mindy bush. i used mindy's happy color and vignette actions on the pictures too.)

ps - sorry google readers for 2 posts - i thought a few pictures looked dark so i tried to edit them in picnik and then they disappeared. boo!

october it kit...

although i keep accidently calling it the september kit. i didn't have it together enough to have time to scrap the september kit and i was upset about that. it was yet another one of my favorite kits. so i used the heidi swapp mask from the september kit for the card. i love that houndstooth paper! all of the paper is so fun this month! and the notebook stamp! and oooooh - that autumn leave ink. i am not a very good stamper at all, but i made a perfect stamped image on my first try with that ink.

kurt is gone to d.c. and we had a crazy day yesterday. well, none of us slept well saturday night before he left. i think the girls were anxious about him leaving. and i was up late scrapping. and yesterday we were so busy - we went none stop between church and a playdate and then a birthday party. we didn't get home until 7 pm and then we still had to eat dinner (the kids didn't want what was served at the party. and then i had to fix nearly the same thing when we got home. stinkers! lol!). and we had to do baths and discovered that the ants are back. :( we didn't get our baths done until about 8, but i was only running about a half hour behind normal so i thought i was doing ok. but then we discovered that i had left wilson's blankies at our friends house that we went to for the playdate. so we had to all load up in the car to go get it. ay yi yi. of course that riled everyone up so the girls didn't drift off until about 9:30. needless to say we're all dragging this morning. well except for wilson who is up and at 'em. and wanting his mom. so i better run! heeelp! lol!

wilson...

real men wear flowers in their ear, right? lol! this is the one he "took care" of in the grocery store. ;)





you could say we're a bit curious george obsessed. we are watching george on tv, painting a picture of him, wearing a george tshirt, and those yellow books under the tv (the blurry rectangles) are all george books too.



he is also obsessed by the computer lately. kurt and i are in awe of how he can move the laptop mouse with his right hand but click with his left. we can't even do that! he's a pro at navigating the sesame street, webkinz, and of course the george website. he really wants to do disney channel and fun brain like his sisters, but he hasn't figured out how to read and do math problems. yet. lol! i laugh, but it's so hard sometimes because he REALLY wants to play those but he gets so frustrated!



most days we make our fisher price little people village by setting all of our pieces up around the family room. (thanks again aunt debbie for adding to our collection!) i have to giggle, though, because almost every day when we're done playing wilson sets all of the chairs around our three tables and everyone "eats."



wilson begged and pleaded and cried and threw a tantrum (and had a timeout) because he wanted a brownie for breakfast. lol! i stood firm but he very stubbornly took one bite of toast and that was about it. we had a few grapes for snacks but he was still mad about the brownie. so finally by lunch he caved and ate A TON of 'sketti. and got his brownie for dessert.

morning

morning, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

i've been debating about blogging this. i've failed so many times. maybe if i make it public i'll stick to it? i'm hoping the pink shoes help. along with the HUGE mug of coffee as a reward when i get home.

happy labor day!

we had such a fun weekend! doris and the g man came to visit. our first visitors in our new house! hopefully next time they come to visit the scrap room will be organized and we won't have ants. :P and we won't try to walk to the park again, right d? ;) places always seem so much closer when you drive to them, don't you think? we had fun anyway, and the pool felt extra cool later that afternoon. :) g is such a sweet boy and was so patient helping the girls set up his train sets and even let them beat him in a race or two. thankfully we had some dinosaurs too. i don't think g was too interested in all of our very girly toys. lol! actually i don't think he minded them too much, but the girls were just having so much fun with the trains. although apparently it's required that you have your tongue stuck out when you play with them (see picture below). ;) hope everyone had a great weekend too!

links

i always love when people post inspirational links to other sites and blogs on their blog. today i was searching martha's website (since we're on a first name basis - lol!) for recipes for this weekend. i'm going to admit that before a few years ago i never really cared for martha. i mean of course she's perfect, but her not-so-great ruthless reputation always made me think twice about buying her products. i guess i'm softening. now i'm hooked on her show and i love her magazine. her website is great too. through it i found these really fun sites -
Hostess with the Mostest
Mozi

my mom and aunt tall are into embroidery and cross stitch. i love the pieces they make, but i've never really had time to do it myself. i love these funky Urban Threads. Somehow I can't picture Mimi doing some of those! But these are so cute too - Colonial Crafts.

these are probably old news, but i've never been too good at keeping up with the latest and greatest anyway. lol!

tagged...

i was tagged by doris who is coming to visit this weekend! yay!!!

so here are the rules -
(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 6 other blogs. (I'm cheating on that one.)
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

my nominees are . . .
miley because she is the BEST writer and i miss hearing her stories so much.
denise because she's such an amazing artist and friend.
gabby because we need MORE ev pictures and stories! i can't get enough of that adorable little baby boy!!!
and aunt tall because we need MORE chubby, adorable baby noah pictures. he's doing so great!!!

now for the blog post part - we are doing ok. we're still adjusting, especially to our new school. i should say of course i am the one who's having the hardest time adjusting. although wilson does go through his list of everyone he misses before he goes to sleep. the girls like school, but there seems to be a LOT more pressure to memorize things for a test they are taking in a few weeks. anna is worried about memorizing her math facts. ella isn't too worried about that i don't think, but she had a rough morning this morning. well i should say yesterday there were tornado warnings here almost non-stop from 7-9. we weren't sure what to do, but we knew the storm was on the other side of the county and that we were safe. also the montgomery schools superintendant was on tv saying that they weren't calling off schools and that the kids would be safe. so we took the girls - it's only a 5 minute car ride. but they ended up sitting in the hall for 2 hours. we had no way of knowing that the warnings would last sooo long, but next time we'll for sure wait it out. the girls both handled it all with flying colors! but i think it really wore them out. and then anna had a really loose tooth last night and she was awake late worrying about it and she kept poor ella awake too. so we were all really tired.

i have to post a few wilson stories so i have them down to scrap later. in addition to saying the names of people he misses i always have to sing to him before bed. he sternly demands the song he wants. "twinkle star," "wiggles," and "wuwwaby" are his favorites. sometimes i also have to do "lollipop" which is really "circle and a dot" on his back like his aunt "wewa" taught him in florida. i almost always have to hold his hands to make the "diamond in the sky" shape during "twinkle star" even though he figured out how to do it long ago. he usually reaches out and gives me high fives or pats too. but today he reached out and grabbed my nose, so i had to sing everything plugged up. lol!!! sometimes he sticks two binkies in his mouth at once and gives me this look that just cracks me up. he's so funny! he's got such a personality! funny and spunky like ella but yet really sweet like anna. i miss the girls a lot while they're at school, but wilson and i are really having a lot of fun just the two of us too.

here's one more random thing before i go to bed (it's late!). we were watching the cubs tonight (woohoo!) and i saw a commercial for a marathon of the show coach. remember that show? it brought back so many memories! it was filmed on the u of i campus while we were there. i can remember seeing the film crews around. my friends would all get together to watch it and point out people we knew. i think griz and maybe sherm were in the background a few times too. those times seem like so long ago!

ok - well that was quite the random rambling post after not posting for so long. as usual, huh? lol! i shouldn't post when i only have two minutes or at midnight. :) hope everyone's having a great week!

first day 2008

first day 2008, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

it all went great!!!! anna was a little scared because i thought i was going to get to walk them in, but then i didn't get to because of the traffic. for the record we left 40 minutes before school started and normally the school is less than 10 minutes away. ay yi yi. but ella told anna she would help her out. lol! i'm SO proud of ella! and of course anna too. we had to run ella's nap mat up to her because we forgot it this morning so i got to peek in on both of them, and they were both doing great! ella didn't even notice me! i think they are both going to have a GREAT year!

we'll miss you, brent.

i've had such a hard time even starting this post. we found out our dear friend brent williams was in a plane crash a few weeks ago. brent was one of kurt's very best friends. he was an amazing man. in the past few weeks i've been reading and hearing a lot of stories about him, and in almost every one the person starts off saying brent was one of their best friends. he was just that kind of person - he made everyone feel important. he was such a great father. he was a single dad, and i think one of the best dads i've ever known. he was so involved in everything the kids did. he coached and attended every game he could. we got to see him in action coaching his son border's football game one fall in texas. he was an amazing coach - he was always sure to take the time to explain the ins and outs of the game to the kids in a really great way. he was also so involved in the kids' schools. he was always on top of how they were doing and always went above and beyond to be sure their transitions to new schools went smoothly.

brent was always so generous. he was always hosting boxing night and football watching parties. he was a HUGE college football fan, especially for his beloved oklahoma sooners. he took kurt to a few games in norman and we all went to dallas one year for the red river shootout. i can remember how he couldn't wait to show off the stadium and the atmosphere to kurt. every time the phone would ring on a saturday or on nfl draft day or during recruiting season i usually guessed correctly that it was brent. but every time i answered he so sweetly asked how i was and how the kids were doing. even though there was important football to be discussed. lol! he invited us to make another road trip to dallas one summer to see the rangers play his yankees. he converted anna to a yankee fan that day. so he wasn't a perfect man. lol! she had such a great time and he did such a great job including her and getting her excited for the game. he always did a great job of including everyone everywhere he went. we're really going to miss him. i wish i was better at putting into words just how we feel, but it still just feels so raw and so wrong. we've had quite a bit going on this past month, and for most things i've been able to see at least a glimmer of a silver lining. but not with this. brent had every plan in place to take care of his children if anything happened to him. but they are going to miss their dad so much. please keep them in your prayers and we will too. we'll really miss you, brent.

august it kit and koenigsfeld reunion pictures...

ok - this has to be fast because the packers are coming TOMORROW and we are not even close to being ready at all. ack! inbetween (well or instead of) packing i've been sneaking in some photo editing and scrapping. i've posted some of my koenigsfeld reunion pictures on my flickr account but i still have a lot more to go through. we sure miss the beach and the pool and toga's awesome meals and all of our aunts and uncles and cousins!

i made a little mini album for our florida picts with august's it kit. it's 4 1/2 x 6 so when i'm done editing the rest of my pictures i can just put a little strip of paper on them and stick them in the album with the journaling pages. i made the covers from the chipboard in the package of canvas letters. i love those letters! the postage frame stamp on the top is from an older it kit (sorry i can't remember what month) and the bottom lines are from this month's kit. i love those bazzil borders! so quick and easy! the other page, obviously, is from wilson's first plane ride. he loved it! he especially loved the treats of getting pop and gum. he's still talking about that. lol! i really would like to stitch those squares down and stitch along the plain contrails and maybe around some other parts too. in my spare time. ;) my machine is really temperamental (boy that's not spelled right). i'm always afraid to stitch right on my page because inevitably i always get a thread jam and rip the paper. so frustrating! maybe i can hand stitch. later! lol! ok - speaking of later - time to run! :)

digital scrapbook memories...

hey all you digi girls! digital scrapbook memories is having a fun and easy contest with some GREAT prizes! check out this link for details and pass the torch!
digitalscrapbookmemories.com

noah

happy birthday ella!!!

i can't believe my sweet ella is already 5!!! it seems like yesterday that kurt and i were speeding along i-10 in san antonio in our purple cavalier trying to get to the hospital faster. we had quite the day today. apparently yesterday while i was out shopping for presents ella decided to throw herself a birthday party. she even gave out invitations and told everyone the party was at 2:00 pm. and that they had to bring presents if they came. stinker!!!!!!!! well most of our neighbors are in daycare so i kind of figured ella knew it was just a game and not going to happen. well, at 1:45 one mom came by to see if we really were having a party. and at 2:00 3 neighbors showed up on our door. i was just getting wilson to bed so i hadn't even showered yet. so i made them watch camp rock for a little while so i could get things ready. then we did hair and makeovers. i think it turned out to be a pretty fun party, considering it wasn't planned. well and that we had to eat our birthday cake on thanksgiving and christmas paper plates. lol!

who's on first?

wilson keeps saying "i want wunch."
so i ask, "what do you want for lunch?"
and he says, "eat!"
and i ask, "what do you want to eat?"
and he says, "wunch!"
i've fixed 3 or 4 different things
but apparently they aren't "wunch."
lol!!!

july it kit and HUGE sale!

so i'm only 15 days late in posting my it kit projects. at least it's not officially july yet, right? lol! kelly is having a HUGE sale! be sure to check IT out!

hello again!

we're home! yay! we had a GREAT time in florida!!! the kids loved the beach and the pool and spending lots of fun times with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandpa k and barb. of course i have tons of pictures to post sometime!

while we were gone we missed a lot. but most of all we missed the birth of noah john hoffman! he was born on tuesday, and is 13 inches long and weighs 2 lbs. quite a big boy for only 28 weeks! he is doing ok for being so little, but he does have some bleeding on the brain that is worrysome. tall anna has been posting all about their journey here - anna's blog. we got to see noah for the first time saturday night. when i saw his teeny tiny hands and fingers and body all i could think of is what a miracle he is. i have pictures of noah to post soon too!

hello goodbye

like the target commercials? maybe? lol! this month has been a whirlwind! we've been visiting and had visitors every weekend. we planned on spending a weekend in ankeny and ended up there for 5 days. the next weekend i got to go the walnut antique show where i met becky and my mom and her friend. i spent about half the day with becky and half with my mom and had such a GREAT time with both! i bought all kinds of goodies that i need to take pictures of. in my "spare" time. i'm still taking the allison tyler jones photography class and i'm sooooo far behind in it that i missed the last assignment. i scrapped for 2 days straight and made 3 projects for this month's it kit. then grandpa k and his wife barb came for 2 days. 2 hours after they left mimi and papa came. they were here for father's day, which was also anna's first dance recital. she did great! i have pictures of that too. they left monday and since then we've been shopping and packing because tomorrow we leave for the koenigsfeld family reunion in florida! oh yeah, and sometime in there we had to get our house totally spic and span and ready for showings. but we were SO lucky because the first family to look at it loved it and is renting it! yay! so i think that explains why i haven't blogged for awhile. sorry! i have tons of pictures to edit and post and i need to post my it kit projects. they are over in it kit gallery if you want to check them out there. but goodbye for now - i'll probably have a MAMMOTH post FULL of pictures when we get back. if there's time between sorting and purging because the packers are coming sometime around july 15th i think. heeeelp! :)

you go, God!

we had some pretty strong, scary thunderstorms roll through tonight, and the girls and i headed to the basement to hang out. it was cooler down there (our air conditioner hasn't been serviced for the summer yet - ugh). and anna was a little freaked out from the sirens and the loud thunder. i wasn't because i'm very brave during tornado warnings and those sirens don't freak me out a bit. yeah. i didn't fool the kids either, i don't think. but ella with her imagination said to us that maybe God was up there playing bowling, and the loudest booms were when he got a strike and if there wasn't a boom he must have gotten a gutter ball. i'm pretty sure God doesn't bowl gutter balls, but i wasn't about to argue. ;) it was funny, because as kids my brothers and i talked about God bowling too. i don't remember ever mentioning that to ella, but i might have. we were cleared pretty quickly from the actual tornado warning, but the weatherman (it was bill, not jimbo. sorry denise and becca. ;) ) said it was hailing right at our intersection so we all went up to see. just as we got up a HUGE bolt of lighting and clap of thunder hit. anna hugged me, still a little scared. but ella stood up, pumped her fist in the air, and shouted, "you go, God!"

summer!

_MG_5412, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

it's finally here!!! it's kind of chilly and rainy so far this morning, but we're ready for fun!!! the end of the school year was so bittersweet for us. i'm not sure if i've mentioned this (probably only 500 times so far), but, as wilson says, "i no wanna" move. saying goodbye to teachers and friends was so hard, we've all been so blessed to find amazing schools and we're even more blessed by our sweet, wonderful friends. thank goodness we have most of the summer to play and have fun!

speaking of fun, becky invited all of the bagels to her house for dinner on thursday and we had a blast! becky made the most delicious chicken and salad and kelly and glue brought desserts that were sooo good. becky's house is full of her amazing photography and beautiful artwork and is shabby chic and just perfect. i always feel inspired by just being there. we had such a great time just hanging out and talking. i'm so blessed to have all of them.

this weekend kurt's sister deb and her family came for a quick visit. the kids were ready to party all night long! that kind of came back to haunt us on saturday at the zoo. we had some tired eyes and a wilson had quite a case of the crankies. it was a beautiful day and we had a great time, though!

this morning the girls slept until 8:30 (wilson was up at 6:15) and our neighbor came over in her pjs and we've already colored, watched sesame street, built with legos, played hulabaloo and now they're down playing house in the cool basement. i'm really looking forward to just hanging out and reading and doing all of the fun kid summer activities. speaking of reading, ella read her first full sentence last night. "a princess loves to dance." of course. ;) i'm so glad it's summer!

happy memorial day

flag, originally uploaded by holly k 123.