Monday, December 23, 2013

The most wonderful time

We have been enjoying our end of December so far. I feel like in the past few years, Christmastime has been a little crazy. However, this year it's been very laid back. I didn't make a bunch of cookies, all shopping was done online and showed up at the door, Christmas cards got sent out early, and our Christmas plans are all pretty spread out. 

Bridget "upgraded" to a booster seat! She is pretty excited about using a "big seat belt" and enjoys unbuckling herself. We've had to have a few lessons on when she can do that and when she can't.

A couple weeks ago we went to the Festival of Lights drive through display. After a "scenic" drive there, the kids were in awe of all the lights. It's fun to see their personalities come through in things that we do. Bridget exclaimed and giggled over everything, and Carter just sat totally still with eyes wide open and hardly said a word. He even forgot to have his thumb in his mouth.  :)



After driving though, we headed back to Morton and got ice cream at Culver's.

The next Saturday it snowed...a lot. At least a lot for central IL at one time. The kids were SO excited about the snow when they woke up! They seem to have inherited some of my genes though, in that they weren't at all anxious to actually go play in it. I finally made them get dressed and go out, and they had lots of fun. Carter stayed busy scooping snow back onto the driveway and Bridget played on the "mountains" with Grace, out neighbor girl. 


After about an hour and half, everyone came inside for hot chocolate. Or "just right chocolate" as Bridget calls it, since she didn't want it to be too hot. :)


As of a few days ago all of our presents are wrapped and piled in the corner of our bedroom. The kids are very excited about all of them!

The other morning Bridget was in our room and I told her to come out. She responded with "mom, I'm just going to sit in here and look at my presents." Which she proceeded to do for a good ten minutes, complete with stroking her favorite gift, which happens to be the one that sparkly. (she's very into anything sparkly right now.)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Updating...finally :)

I realize it's been many months since last updating. And you (as in all 3 of my readers. :)) have my apologies. Much has happened since I posted about vacation, so I'll just post my pictures since then.  :)  Warning: this could get REALLY long!


 We did peaches at some point...in August maybe? They were/are delicious, and I ate lots of them while nauseous.

The kids requested to eat pretty much every meal outside this Summer. Next year, we are getting a picnic table.

Wendi's birthday party

Towards the end of the Summer we were gifted with a bike trailer from our neighbors, and we bit the bullet and bought bikes for Luke and I. We got a lot of enjoyment out of them. They made Dairy Queen trips so much faster, although we burned a lot less calories biking the couple of miles rather than walking it. 

Carter moved upstairs into his "new" room! We have loved not having to tiptoe around while he's sleeping.

Speaking of Carter, this kids is just a goof. He's such a Knapp, in that he'd prefer to eat fruit over dessert, esp if it's strawberries. I think he'd eat a whole box in a sitting if I let him. 

Golfing with a baseball bat while wearing nothing but his winter hat from last year....we'll work on his fashion sense. 

Bridget has spurts of wanting to be helpful...this night she wanted to wipe off the table. 

Impromptu story time on the diaper boxes. 

The beginning of Sep we headed to Kansas City, sans kids, for Scott and Joy's wedding. We were kind of in a daze, as this was the morning I found out I was pregnant. Which while not a total shock, was a little surprising. We had a wonderful time and lots of good food, which included Jack Stack (below).


We have been going to the library fairly frequently as the kids LOVE to play there! 

We also went to Ackerman farms one SWELTERING September day. We came home with way too many little pumpkins.

The kids had a blast at the pumpkin festival this year going on a few rides, climbing in the fire truck (below, although it's super blurry), and have fair food. 



The Pumpkin Parade was also a hit, even though neither of them would look at me for a picture. They came home with WAY too much candy. We invited our potluck group to sit with us at the parade and then come back to our house for lunch. A few ended up staying all day, and we had a great time!

See these sweet kids and the paci's in their mouths? While this is a little out of order, this is the last picture I have them with it. :) We took both kids' away after Bridget's birthday. Carter sucks his thumb most of the time anyway, so he adjusted fine. Bridget had a hard time for about a week, but she adjusted pretty well too. 

Uncle Luke's boots are pretty cool. Actually, the kids think anything of Uncle Luke's is great.

In October we went to Lake Geneva with all the Knapp's. By this point I was feeling absolutely rotten at all times and downright non-functional at times, so my only picture from the whole weekend is the kids with Leighton. (We roomed with Mike and Whitney)

Upon getting home from Lake Geneva we met up with everyone again at Busy Corner, but first the kids had a pre dinner snack of Almonds at Grandma Linda's.

New birthday markers from Uncle Mark and Aunt Tammy! They were a huge hit!

New winter church clothes! Bridget would wear her skirt and sparkly silvers shoes every day if I let her.

Bridget's dessert request for her third birthday party was pink cupcakes with pink frosting. I made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting. The frosting was delicious. 

The last of Bridget's gifts was a shared one with Carter and they got these shirts to announce to our families that we were expecting. I don't think anyone was surprised....

Once in a while when Luke works late we head to McDonald's for dinner. This child has discovered the joys of dipping. Ketchup, bbq sauce, ranch dressing, or pizza sauce are asked for at nearly every meal, no matter what he is eating. 

We spent a chilly morning at Radar Farm for Carter's birthday. I thought this was fitting since I went into labor with him there. My mom went with us, and while she initially laughed at how bundled up we were, I was glad we dressed so warm because it was cold!
                                     


Carter is always Grandpa's buddy during dessert. 

We enjoyed another very cold morning riding with Uncle Luke in the tractor during harvest. The kids didn't want to ride in the combine so we just hung out with Luke in a slightly crowded tractor cab.


Somewhere along the line the kids discovered the fire engine with Bert and Ernie at Walmart. Thankfully they're thrilled just to sit on it, so I don't have to put quarters in every time. :)


I thought Bridget could maybe get into books on tape so I got one from the library. While I was in the shower one morning she totally destroyed the tape.  :(  I had to confess to the librarian, who was very kind and understanding and didn't make us pay for it.


For Halloween the kids dressed up as Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. We just go about 5 houses down, and 5 houses back, and the kids are thrilled.  :) 


Carter got sick for what seemed like weeks. Thankfully we never had to visit the er again, but we did have to make a few Dr visits and do nebulizer treatments for a while.


The kids were quite excited about the first snow of the year and we headed out right after breakfast and I pulled them around on their sleds.


Popcorn is our "go to" snack and the kids can eat huge bowls!

The day before Thanksgiving I went to the Dr and since they were super busy I got a sonogram so the Dr didn't have to take the time to get the baby's heartbeat. I was thrilled when the sono tech said she could tell what gender the baby was, and, as I suspected, it's a girl! Now to come up with a name....

No pictures from Thanksgiving day.  :( But the day after we went to James and Lisa's for brunch, since Luke had some cousins that were in town. Our nephew Josh breeds dogs, and had some 5 week old puppies. They were SO cute, and Bridget was quite in love until one of them peed on the garage floor, and then she was too worried about being peed on to enjoy them. :)

Knapp Thanksgiving- this is my only picture. All of these people are being entertained by the baby. :)  Babies are hit with this family!

This happened last night. Carter was done with his bath when Luke got home late from work and while I was in the kitchen talking to him, Carter climbed into the tub with Bridget. 

For the next couple of weeks I'm on Dr's orders to "take it very easy" due to some bleeding from a partial placenta previa. Hopefully the placenta will move up higher in my uterus over the next few weeks, and all restrictions will be lifted. But until then Luke gets to make all the beds, lift all the heavy things, sweep the floors, etc. :)

That's all of our news as of now! Now I just need to keep up my blog better so I don't get so far behind!