Kissel Family

The new Clabber Girl

2012-02-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Cora's busy, but not too mischievous. The one place she can't stay away from though is my baking cabinet. I have a safety lock, but after 3 kids it doesn't do a great job anymore. Maybe I'll replace it after I quit wasting time on the computer today.

It's hard to actually see how big the explosion was.

We've definitely been taking advantage of the warm weather.

I don't think I will ever tire of taking pictures of the kids laying with their daddy.

Have a great day!

Stopping time

2012-02-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Josiah can stop now... stop growing up, stop getting bigger, stop getting smarter.

He is so much fun right now! My heart melts for him. He is so sweet & affectionate. Everyday he tells me something that makes me want to stop time.

"Mommy, I don't want to be 5 so that you will still be able to hold me."

"Mommy, I'm so glad you are home. I missed you so much."

"Mommy, I don't want to be 95 so that you'll still be my mommy."

"Mommy, I love you"

Few tidbits...

He certain Santa is bringing him a baby brother for Christmas this year (denied)

He misses when Cora was a little teeny tiny baby.

His favorite number is 45.

He talks about numbers about 75839275983274982749823 times a day.

His sisters are his best friends.

He tattles every chances he gets.

He loves the iPod, Legos, and the wii.

He weighs 37.5 lbs.

He really wants to play football in the fall. (undecided, he'll play with 2nd graders)

He loves French toast.

He wants to be able to read now.

He likes making up his own songs. (yes, I'm recording some of them)

He's still afraid of thunder.

He can't wait to go to Kindergarden next year.

Have a great day!

Pretty Princesses

2012-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

At the last minute I decided to take the older two kids to Disney on Ice. I started to get mom guilt on Sunday afternoon. I'm realizing how fast time goes by and she won't find princesses magical forever. Quick decision, we're going.

They were having fun just waiting.

Then Sierra showed up.

The instantly became "best friends."

It was so cute to see Lillian play with a girl and be "girly."

Josiah kept himself busy playing on the iPod while waiting.

Lillian's never known a stranger. She wanted to sit on Sierra's mom's lap.

The show was fun. Wish we had better seat, but what do you expect when you buy at the last minute. I got teary eyed a few times... ok maybe they were actually coming down my face. I can't help but get emotional when I do things with my kids that I remember doing myself. That and I was happy the Ryder Flynn and Rapunzel lived happily ever after.

I was the mean mom who didn't let them have the $20 light things, $15 cotton candy, or the $12 snow cones. I did let them enjoy some peanut butter crackers out of my purse though. oops, I forgot those made you thirsty. suck spit kids.

They thought I was the best mom ever when I let them share a $1.29 Jr. shake from Arby's. It was awesome just to have 2 straws in the same cup!

I needed to take Lillian over to meet the new neighbor, Cujo.

Her face says it all.

Straggles vs Piggies

2012-01-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

I think Cora might potentially be in the lead for the Kissel kids hair growth rate. We'll note the obvious first: she doesn't have that much to start with, but at the same rate the two other kids didn't get there first hair cuts until they were 2. (although, there were ~~many~~ some to say they needed them sooner) I just know that once they get those big kid haircuts they no longer look like babies and well this one I'm trying to keep a baby as long as possible.

Enjoy Little Miss Cora's hair!

How can you not love the "straggles"

It was so cute to look over at this.

Cora's new hobby is fun... climbing.

She loves to climb on the kitchen table, just don't panic and run to get her.

She loves to climb onto Daddy's chair, she's big stuff.

... the computer chair, changing table, couch.

Now she's found my desk. What a mess, but she sure does love it.

Now what you all have been waiting for...

Piggies!

She actually left them in all day!

The clip lasted for about 3 minutes.

As you can see, her personality is really starting to come out... and her teeth.

Now, that's my sweet girl.

Have a great day!

Not enough Nims

2012-01-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

The Nims family came and went.

Well, kind of, they ended up staying for 3 weeks. What a great 3 weeks it was! As much as I love seeing Jennifer and Brent, seeing our kids play together has really taken a piece of my heart. Josiah likes playing with his friends, but he loves playing with his cousins. You know, the family love. We went to the zoo, children's museum, and had days to just play around the house. It was a first where Jennifer didn't have a million places to be and people to see. So the time had a much more relaxed feel, not so much of the "visit" feel.

Noah would sing a "Mexico" song he made up and then Josiah would shoot him. They had a blast.

Nathanael ~~tolerated~~ enjoyed the 2 older kids more this time. He's still not fond of the baby.

He just wants to adopt an older kid someday.

Lillian made two new best friends... Nigel and Niko. The Nims' pugs. She would play with them for hours... literally hours. At one point she was too quite and we had forgot she was down there. (1st night actually) Brent checked on her just as she had Niko by the leash and a pair of open scissors, ready to cut off the ear. She just wanted to cut her hair or as Josiah said, "be a broomer"...groomer.

Noah lived in his camoflage get-up.

His awesome look at the zoo.

I was fond of it. Mainly because I lived in camouflage most of my elementary years. So much that my mom made me a camo skirt, "blouse" and vest.

Anyone remember that?

Josiah drawing a frog at the museum.

I was so glad that we had one evening to have a sisters night.

We went to Papa Roux and a movie.

I love you Nims and we will miss you while you are out galavanting around ;)

If you haven't check out their blog, Newschool Nomads, you really should! They are on an awesome adventure traveling around the US for a year in their trailer.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

We had a really great Christmas this year. We were busy, but not too busy. That was a first. I have to say that I really loved Christmas being on a Sunday this year. It felt really good to ~~have to wake the kids up~~ open presents and then go to church. Granted I didn't have any extra days off of work, but I don't really need those anyway.

Santa brought Josiah, Tommy- the white, mighty morphine power ranger, 1993. He was told that elves still made him. Thanks Santa at the ISM... and ebay. In the other hand was Megazord. The other must of the year.

Cora was more interested in her morning bottle. We unleashed the other kids to do her opening.

Lillian received, Kimberly- power ranger, yada- yada. Josiah saw it and said that he wanted Lillian to have that for Christmas. Seemed like a good choice considering the only things she'd put on her list was: poop, a fan, and a light bulb. I should've had santa deliver those...

Still going at it, but in a different location.

Christmas at my mom's.

Her cute new "fish face" she's been making.

Boy oh boy do I love my boys!

The girls playing on an old toy.

Josiah was just laying there staring at the tree.

me: What are you looking at?
Jo: nothing, I don't like my toys.
me: what?
Jo: I don't like my toys...

I think that might be worse than him telling
Aunt Jenni that he wanted to put her gift in the trash last year.
In my ungrateful brats defense...
He did tell me that he didn't feel good and wanted to go lay down.
Then when we talked about it he said all he wanted to do was open his toys.
oops... mommy didn't know he'd take it so literal when I told him he couldn't open them.
I just wanted to get the wrapping paper picked up.

I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Let's see what 2012 has for us!

Lovely Leaping Lillian

2011-12-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

This girl is so special in so many ways. These pictures speak for themselves.

Enjoy.

I love you Lillian.

That had to put a smile on your face today :)

Band-Aid

2011-12-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

This is the result of one of Lillian's naps. She normally takes her naps as very serious business. This day she must've just felt a little extra energy at nap time.

Or once again it may just be another form of her artistic expressions.

Just an "everyday" day

2011-12-03T16:28:00.000-08:00

These are the moments that make you just wish that they could stay this way forever.

Lillian fishing

Cora happy about something/ good picture of the only teeth she's had for months

Josiah's "working"

You name it he can do it: draw, hang clothes, make tea, read you a book, brush your hair, pull out his wallet, lend you some shades, or even if you need to use a funnel.

More pictures of his dress up.

Cora trying her first ~~milkshake~~ frozen rice drink beverage treat

One day I was not allowed into the nursery while they were working.

Yes, Lillian loves being on a leash...

The magnificent tower of toys.

They could not wait for daddy to get home to see their creation.

Have a happy day!

He is the Champion.

2011-11-27T17:54:00.000-08:00

On a beautiful weekend in October we headed down to Cousin Danny's house in the hills of Brown County. He has started an annual chili cook-off. This was the 3rd year. Danny has a thing for "annual" things and family gatherings. I'm glad because the kids and I love to attend his shin-digs. We always have an awesome time because of all the cousins! Josiah goes into an altered state of mind being surrounded by so many boys. Lillian was interested in the cat most of the time. She would totally be the toddler on the news that wandered away from the family, slept with coyotes to stay warm, and then found a 1/2 mile away.

The kids playing pin the smile on the skeleton.

Josiah won! He talked about winning his dollar for days afterwards.

Danny knows the way to a kid's heart.

Lillian taking a few swings at the piñata.

Here's the real story of the weekend...

Grant has been totally into cooking shows lately. He says, "I know I could be a really good cook." Really? Prove it... Well once Grant found out it was a Chili cook off and there were prizes and pride at stake he was all in. Literally. Grant went to the grocery, worked on his chili, and then presented it with pride. Grant might've had a odd slight advantage. He had never made chili...ever. So he was able to create what he thought a good chili would have without knowing the standard ingredients.
Well, his creation was a hit and it was delicious!

Accepting his Grand Champion status.

I'm hoping next year there will be trophies and medals involved.

The Brown County Winery's red wine was very good though.

Grant being the ~~humble~~ guy he is needed to talk his winnings over.

grant: I wonder how much I won by
me: I heard Erin said you won by a landslide.
grant: like how many?
me: I think she said you had 12 more votes than second place.
grant: ... Maybe I should call her and find out what my total votes were.

really?

All I have to say is he needs to be starting on his chili for next year, because beginner's luck only happens once. :)

Congratulations Chili Master Grant!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween. I went to Jojo's school on Halloween. He was excited to get to wear his power ranger costume. The school had a huge parade. I thought it was just going to be his little class parading around the room. Nope, apparently this is a was a big deal. All the students and teachers were way dressed up and there were about 100 parents watching. Yikes!

I'm the "room mom" for his class. Man, does that sound old. I threw the party not knowing what in the heck to do with preschoolers. Just so you know, never in my life have I wanted to be a teacher, babysitter, or any occupation that involves children. It went fairly well. The next day I thanked one of the mom's (I grew up with her) for bring goody bags. She asked me "Who IS the room mom?" "Uh, well, that's me." She gave me a hug and said, "OH GIRL, I'm so sorry!" There's only room to go up from here;)

Jo's class dressed up.

Then came the evening. It was crazy to start. Neither of my kids wanted to wake up from their nap, eat dinner, or get dressed up. really? Then the phone calls started on when we were stopping by. Not the normal pre-trick or treating hype I remembered. oh well.

Cora wasn't too dressed up. She had a tutu, wings, and a jacket thing that didn't stay on. She was cute enough to begin with ;)

When we showed up at the Hellers, Todd told us Aunt Kandy wasn't there...

Of course, the kids loved the deer head. "Deer Heads" somehow make it into our daily conversation. It's a fixation that has lasted much longer that I would've ever imagined.

Aunt Kandy with the kiddos.

She loved being dressed up.

Stopped by June Bug's for some treats!

This power ranger costume was a real ordeal. I went to 6 stores looking for a certain one! Who knew Power Rangers were still in demand. I finally found this one (only one on shelf), but it wasn't the SAMURI Ranger. The clerk said, "oh, he wants to be a ninja? we have those over here." I looked at him like he's from Mars and asked, "Do you have kids...?" I knew I couldn't get it because I would be totally wrong and ruin his life for not buying the right costume. So we did the next best thing. Grant took him at 10am the next morning so that he could pick it out on his own.

Lillian asked "Do you have dogs?" at each and every house. Her "treat" was getting to see people's animals. Some people invited her in, some dogs ran up to her, and then we hit the jackpot. A lady brought out three of her dogs, let Lil pet each one, and the last one had a costume and pink hair! Lillian was in heaven on Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Pre- Halloween events

2011-11-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

MASQUERADE

Our neighbor Jeanne knows how to throw a good party. She had a "masquerade" halloween party one evening. I made the mask because she told me we had to wear one. Of course when we showed up NO ONE had one on. Oh well, I thought they turned out cute and we had fun making them.

CARVING PUMPKINS

Grant brought home some great pumpkins for carving one night. I don't have pictures of the finished products or of Grants awesome Angry Birds pumpkin that last a day before the front caved in :(

VAMPIRE VACATION

One afternoon we braved(actually didn't realize until we were there) the madness of fall break and headed down to the CM for the Haunted house. Christine used to take cousin Mark and I each year when I was little so it was fun to see her take my kids! Grammy and Daddy were also there. We had a good time.

note to self: avoid museums on school breaks

Cora's 1st party

2011-11-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

I've fallen so behind on keeping this updated. So here's mainly a quick picture post of the party. We had it down at the bottom ground. It was a perfect day for a fire. There was lots of food, fun, friends, and family. What a perfect way to celebrate such a special little girl!

My long time friend Jamie Narmore Inskeep made the wonderful cake and cupcakes.

One of those photos we try to remember to take just so Cora knows how much we love her.

Having a good time.

We had a little pumpkin hunt on a trail.

Yeah, she wasn't so into the presents. Next year....

We had a wonderful day and thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy Saturday to come.

Cora is ONE?

2011-10-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

On October 18th my little baby Cora turned 1 year old. You may ask, "is this possible?" I know I do. So much in fact that Grant and I actually forgot it was her birthday until my MIL called wanting to wish her a Happy Birthday (about 1 1/2 hours after we got out of bed). I don't want to blame this all on "Well, it is the third child" or maybe it happened because I totally lack an ability to remember anything to do with numbers, dates, birthdays. In Cora's defense I had Jojo's Bday wrong for a while (confusion with the due date and birthdate being one day apart) and that I really did write Lillian's birthday down wrong on the calendar (It just seems like she was born on the 12th and not the 13th, I even had to think about it now). I shared my excuses now you'll have to ask Grant why he didn't remember.

Anyway, I think the real reason is because Cora is such a perfect fit in our family, she's bring joy to all of us everyday, she is just as sweet as they come, so that we aren't keeping track of her days. It just feels like she has always been here with us.

Mom guilt got me so I had to stop and get a cake on my way home from work.

I think she was happy for the extra thought :)

She knew what to do...

Time for bath to get the icing off and this diaper.

maybe I should pull this up, nah I'm getting in the bath anyway.

The only thing I can think of on this one is BRAVEHEART!

Her birthday gift for the day. Getting to take a bath all by herself!

Now, that is a 3rd child present.

I can't believe that she has grown up so much in a year. I can go on and on about how much I love this little thing, but if you've met her she speaks for herself. She has been a huge blessing to us. So much so that I actually ~~somewhat~~ forget what a rough start we had with her. I can't wait to watch her grow and to see her personality to really develop. You definitely want time to slow down and cherish every moment with your last child.

Happy Birthday Cora!

Love, mommy

Part II: The Party will be coming soon

Skipping School

2011-10-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

Josiah has been in school for well over a month so we decided it was time to take a day off. Aunt Christine and I were ready to see the new frog exhibit at the Children's Museum. So off we went with the kids for the day. I didn't take many pictures at the frog exhibit, but it was really cool and worth the trip.

Josiah dressed up as a frog playing with Cora.

Jojo could not wait to dress up as a "scuba man"

Lillian was so cute. She was walking around the coral with holding her breath like she was under water.

Digging for the terra cotta soldier.

The new National Explorer exhibit is really cool also.

DINOSAURS!

Josiah being the scaredy cat he is said, "I'm going on a walk through the dinosaurs and thunder by myself."

Big step for him. Especially since the only way I got him into the Dinosphere this time was because they had turned the thunder off temporarily.

Laying in her Dino nest.

It looks like a big pile of poop here.

Josiah had a great time skipping school and I think it's safe to say he had a very "educational" time.

Orchard 2011

2011-09-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

We headed out to Anderson Orchard this morning for some fun. It was a great time. Minus the fact that Cora was being a grump and Lillian wanted to pick apples from the trees the whole time.

How can you not love this face?

Josiah was actually loving have his picture taken.

They loved the hay bale play area.

The only time I could get Cora to smile was while she was in the swing.

Fall is in the air!

Have a happy day!

Lillian's 3 and...

2011-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that time goes by too quickly, but nothing makes it seem faster than your child's birthday. Lillian's been with us for 3 years... She is such a unique kid, so fun, silly, and sweet... most of the time :) I really can't imagine what God has planned for her life. Since she has so many facets to her personality. I'm very excited to find out though.

Here is to another blessed year ... and hopefully an end to the terrible twos ;)

We love you so much Lillian!

She got a sink for outside the house. She loves to clean, wash, and scrub things.

I was surprised by her "diva" move here.

This is the bow I bought for her first birthday thinking I would be able to get it attached to her lack of hair.

Jumping... she LOVES to jump.

This is the cutest "3" you'll see. It's the only way she likes to do it. I'm glad I got a picture because someday we won't remember how she held her fingers up.

Drinking her milkshake

(I didn't show the picture after it spilled out on her)

Aunt Catherine and Uncle Zach gave her a Disney gift card. I saved it for her day to make it special. If you go in on your birthday they make you a button with your name, a certificate, and a sticker. It made it extra special for her.

Another night we had pizza with the GGs Reilly and the Forcums. She had a Barbie ballerina cake. I swear her birthday has been going on for a month!

Happy Birthday Lillian!

and....

GRANT IS 30!!!

So your daughter turning 3 make time fly, but so does your husband turning 30!

We met when we were 6 and now he is the big 3-0!!!

Really, where does time go?

I do thank the Lord for creating a such a wonderful husband, father, son and man.

We had a wonderful time celebrating with a scrumptious dinner at Carnegie's and spending time with his family.

Grant, I love you and Happy Birthday!

whew!

2011-09-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while so this will be mainly a quick picture post. As usual Comcast had a lovely "level 1 power outage" whatever that means....

Cora and Lillian playing in the mud

We had a fun Thursday evening at Victory field. Well, that maybe an exaggeration. Josiah had fun, Cora was great, and Lillian, wasn't ready to sit in the stands for that long yet.

By the time we left the usher said, "You giving up?"

One night the two older kids, my neighbor, her friend, and I headed out for the state fair. Here's a few fun ones from that night.

Cotton Candy a.k.a Crack for Kids

We had a Stucker family get-together at the Stucker Farm.

Jojo playing with boys and stick, what could be better.

This swing was sooo fun. I wish I would've had more time on it.

Aunt Kelly and Lillian

Cora is doing really great walking. I'd say she' up to about 75% of the time. She's even now starting to bend her knees when walking and not just straight legged. Now we just need to work on getting shoes on her before it gets too cold.

Have an awesome day!

Jo Goes to the Dentist

2011-08-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Most people love getting their hair done... I love getting my teeth cleaned.

So needless to say I was very excited for Josiah's first dentist trip. I even videotaped it if you would be interested in seeing it ;) Weird, I know. I had taken him with me twice before so he would know what to expect. He did awesome! I might've even gotten a little teary-eyed (weird, again). I think it's cool that we have 4 generations that see him regularly.

Anyway, enjoy my big boy.

Jojo taking Lillian a ride.

Jojo's in Pre-K

2011-08-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little boy is entering the school world or me as a parent (I'm not old enough). I remember him being a high energy baby/toddler and wishing for the day that he was sent to school so I would get a break. Now that it's here and he calmed down dramatically at his 3rd birthday, I wasn't as excited as I had been.

He has been very excited to go to school. I've been nervous about being on a schedule and all the driving. Oh well, it's what has to be done. He was such a big boy about everything. We went and got him a Star Wars backpack. Then at back to school night he was so excited to get a folder from the teacher that had a bunch of papers for me to fill out. He was actually ok with me taking so many pictures. Drop off wasn't so bad (I didn't cry) but Lillian did. She was screaming her head off as was Cora so that when the teachers came out for pick up they all looked over at my van like it was on fire. It was that loud from across the parking lot. haha Josiah went right on in without a look back. What a big boy!

on the way

waiting for the teacher to come out.

He did great on his first day. I was traumatized by being late to pick him up (long story) on his first day of preschool. He said he had fun, that a kid was being really bad and mean to everyone, he didn't get chocolate milk, and he wants to go back.

I can't wait to see what this year brings...whether I'm ready or not.

Love this girl!

2011-08-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

My Grandma asked me for a picture of Cora the other day for her house. I went to my computer and realized the last good picture I had of Cora was when she was 4.5 months old. I decided I better try to get some decent ones since she is now coming up on 9 months.

She has her bottom two teeth....

She just started standing up right where she is without holding onto anything....

(as of July 31)

.... and blowing bubbles.

Josiah loves on her any chance he gets.

I needed to add a couple of my darling Lillian.

Have a great day!

Summertime= pool parties

2011-08-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

Aunt Karen was in town from Colorado and gave the kids some GREAT swim lessons. The kids gained confidence in the water and 3 weeks later they are now swimming without their lifejackets. It make me pretty nervous though that they are SO confident in their swimming skills. Josiah told me that if Cora crawled in he would jump in and save her. yikes!

Anna and Jensen rocking' their summer hair

Cora zonked during a busy day

Sophia had her 5th birthday party at Wendy's pool

Luke and Nina catching some rays, drinking a cold one, while chillin on a raft in the pool

Lillian more interested in the fish than swimming.

Happy Summer Swimming to you!

Got Goat?

2011-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Cora had a first Doctor's appointment since we started on her new and improved formula....

I'll back up a bit and give the brief Low Down on her. She was fussy and miserable from the time she was born. By four weeks I took her to her Dr. and started what was a stressful month or so of figuring out what was wrong with our little girl. Turned out she had a milk protein allergy and acid reflux (Thank God, after what we were having to prepare her for) After cutting Dairy from my diet, then trying nutramigen, we ended up on Elecare. Elecare is a prescription formula that we ordered from the pharmacy which insurance covered with a $25 copay. Sweet!!! She had been on Elecare a couple of months but was still very raspy while breathing so we were sent to Pulmonologist. He linked it back to the acid reflux linked to the allergy. Anyway, We changed insurance and they gave me the whopper that they would not cover the formula. I had to figure something out considering I didn't/couldn't pay $600/month for formula. I followed my motherly intuition (which I don't have often) and decided to make Cora's formula myself. I did lots of research and found this formula recipe which I tweaked a bit myself, because I felt it was the most complete and was not too crazy (no, I'm not putting pureed raw liver in my baby's bottle, yuck)

2cups Goat Milk

2cups enriched rice drink

1/2t probiotics

1t calcium magnesium

1t multivitamins

1t iron

2t flax seed oil

10 drop trace mineral

I prayed ALOT about the decision to makethis. I was terribly nervous because it would be my sole responsibility to nourish her properly. I had family and friends praying: that she would like the taste, respond well to it, I would have the discipline to make it everyday, and that I would not be in denial if she wasn't doing well on it.

God also gave me some very obvious "confirmations" that this was the right thing to do. I asked my aunt who has a farm if she knew of any milking goats. She said, "Actually, the ones in our barn (that I saw give birth) are milking right now until the end of the fair. They will take home the milk and pasteurize it for you then bring it back and they don't want any money." Really?!! Could it be anymore obvious...

This is one of the goats I saw born who was responsible for getting the milk flowing :)

So in conclusion, Cora went to the Dr. today she was very pleased with her growth, her breathing, and she didn't think I was a complete wacko ;)

About a month late

2011-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

These are a few from over the 4th of July weekend. We had a great and busy weekend with lots of fireworks.

These are some pictures my mom took at her house.

Jojo and Cora have a neat bond. He adores her SO much and she loves him back just as much!

My mom loves propping the kids up in weird ways for pictures. She's always setting them on top of something.

This is when we were at the NP fireworks. They had some things for the kids to play on beforehand.

waiting to go up the big kid slide

Lillian with her weird self.

She was holding Grant's hand but apparently felt the need to bite the police tape.

Have a great weekend!

Webb Extravaganza

2011-07-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Cousin Danny started a yearly family "reunion" 3 years ago. So far everyone of them has been fun ;) It's a great time and we are creating great memories. I would love for my kids to have all the great memories I have of spending time at the Brown County lake with their cousins!

Josiah was excited to get to fish. Lillian was a maniac that never went off the slide right. Cora just went with the flow of the day. Enjoy the sights.

Music set up.

People having a good time in the water.

Grant was stoked to get to go down the slide. He missed out on it last year.

Lillian...

Josiah would slow down to a stop at the end while

Lillian couldn't control her speed.

Uncle Larry(front) with his friend.

This is my awesomeness shooting off the slide. Notice the nice form :)

This captures the size of it better.

Cody, Eli, Jojo, and Lillian.

Don't muckwith these Mommies

2011-07-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago some of my girlfriends and I got together for a little bit of fun in the mud. We headed up to Anderson for a girls night, mexican dinner and some dancing in the hotel room. Then bright and early the next morning we headed on over to the course. The Mudathalon is a three mile course through the woods and fields with all kinds of obstacles on the way. Some were simple, some were challenging, and some we simply couldn't do. The one thing that was for certain they were easier when we worked as a team.

Jess, Amanda, Me and Erin

This picture doesn't do the mud pit justice. This must be the very beginning of it. It was so deep and sticky. We crawled through it on our hands and knees and went under the flags.

Mother Muckers.

I wish I had a picture of our shirts clean.

Dads don't come any cooler than this.

The water was FREEZING!

I heard from another girl that when she finished later in the day the water trucks were out so they had to wash off in the creek.

My souvenir.

I've never had poison ivy in my life. WEll, this was gnarly. This picture doesn't even do it justice. I had to get some steroids to clear it up.

VBS

2011-07-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

This past week the kids enjoyed VBS at Fountaintown Christian Church. It was their first time at a VBS like this. They Loved it! FCC is the church Grant grew up in so it was cute to see them there like their daddy was.

This is babysitter, Addison and Eva. They love my kids so much! Their family has been one of the biggest blessings in our life.

Come Sunday morning it was time to perform. This is what it looked like. Although it was adorable because they came down the aisle holding hands. Jojo stood there with his hands folded.

Lillian did too until...

She saw the other kids doing motions. Then she got much more into it.

A rarity for me to put something this obnoxious in her hair. I have a green one for Cora but she won't leave it on.

I"m going to try to get it filmed, but Josiah been practicing his TV evangelism. He says, " The Lord loves you so much. He will Heal you!" It's quite hilarious.

On a similar note he was playing a version of simon says that he learned at VBS. He went something like this:

Wink says touch your head..

your nose...

hold your knife....(we are eating out)

cut people's head off with your knife....

lol (if you followed that)

Jojo driving his me-me around.

Handsome Husband.

Cora the Cutie and I.

Hope you had a Happy Fourth

Quick Picture Post

2011-06-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Once again our internet is being temperamental. I'm just going to try to download some quick pictures while we have a connection.

The kids on Uncle Jeffy's new motorcycle.

Our other house guest, Alice, when Jake and Emily came for a visit.

So the next few pictures are from when we spent a couple of hours at g & g Webb's. Nothing like a southern grandma who makes you fried corn cakes with blackberry jam upon your arrival. It was quicker than getting a burger at McD's.

The always inventive Papa Billy made a fun toy with a box and seatbelt. He comes up with the best stuff!

Ok, the next 3 are from when we had a fire and roasted hotdogs and smores. It was just the 5 us (dad came down to get a hotdog). It was lots of fun. Jojo and Grant slept in the tent for the night. Jojo thought it was AWESOME.

So these two picture are, yes... the BIGGEST BLOWOUT ever!!!

Poo puddle on the floor, then she crawled around continuing to spread it around. The only thing I could do was put her in the bathtub to confine her until I could get it cleaned up.

Grandpa was in town last week so we had a few days to get in the pool.

Notice he is just down to his swim jacket minus the swimmies.

Cora's cute little wrinkled feet...

....and her cute face.

Whew... it actually held up long enough for me to get it done. Hope you enjoyed!

Month of May

2011-05-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

There's many things I like about May besides being my birthday month, Jojo's, and Mother's day.

The weather gets warm...and cold....and hot.... but on the mild mornings I love going on walks with the kids. I wish Josiah would hurry up and learn to ride his bike. It would help the walks out tremendously. That all hinges on getting his backed-over-by the car bike straightened out.

I don't think it can be stated enough about these two. They love. each. other.

All morning they have been playing dinos, cars, and legos together.

Bathtime only gets more fun!

Cuz Eddie stopped by from Brown County. Since his momma was running the mini. He wasn't quite sure what to think of Cora.

May is also the time for the airshow. We hiked it up 140 ft on top of the water tower to watch the show. It was pretty cool because it was raining all around us. We kept watching the radar. It was to the east of us mainly though.

Since I'm doing May, Thank you to all the soldiers who gave there lives so that we may live and live freely.

I took a long weekend off from family to life to enjoy the sunny skies of Gulf Shores. Grandma Star and I flew down to stay with Jerri in a beachside Condo. There Jerri and I went to a 3 day music festival, The Hangout. It was sooo much fun and relaxing. Agenda: walks on the beach, sit under an umbrella for a couple hours, listen to some music at the festival, relax/nap, and some more music.

This is the Biscuit King and the Fun Barn. It's a place not far from Jerri's house. It's home of the ugly biscuit. I think it's been on the food network. It's a big biscuit filled with egg, sausage, bacon, peppers, and I might be forgetting something. It's good and only $2.39!

It has great "atmosphere" it has couches lining the other walls and a stage for music.

This is a sign out front of the Biscuit King. I can't help but finding it so funny.

Happy Last Day of May.

bring on the summer!

Girls' evening in

2011-05-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

The other night Josiah went golfing with Daddy and Eric. That meant it was just the girls!!!

Lillian is becoming much more motherly these days. She wants to hold Cora,soothe her, burp her, and feed her.

So the best investment for our house has been our pool cover. Case in point.

She managed to jot over onto it 2 times that night. I was sitting at the patio table. She's just gotten so fast and I'm not used to it yet.

Lillian has been looking forward to painting ~~herself~~ her pottery since she got her Easter basket.

Well my little artist LOVES to draw on herself. I know that someday she will be the first one to get a tattoo. or maybe become a tattoo artist. We'll see....

I can look at her all day. She is my cutie pie!

Currently my screensaver. I love my Lillian with her envious eyelashes.

This is just one of those photos that captures the essence of Lillian.

Cora is everywhere now.

We had her two check ups this past week.

She is now a little over 15lbs and 26 1/2 inches long

Pulmonologist = still sounds rattly, pretty sure it's still reflux, wanna see her back in 3 months

G.I. doc= still reflux, put her on nutramigen (insurance will no longer cover her formula) wanna see her in 4 months

Rant: If I qualified for WIC I wouldn't be paying for private insurance! I HATE insurance companies. I think all the jokes of hell and lawyers should definitely be switched to insurance companies.

Photos worth sharing

2011-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Some random ones I had flagged in iphoto.

Story: This morning Josiah went out to the van in the garage to look for the ipod. Later he said, "I peed on the van tire." Obviously he was proud of himself even though that was what we had taught him do when he was 2. Not as special now. I went out to the garage to see if he was telling the truth or a story. Yep a puddle/river of pee right in the middle of my garage.

Josiah has been very imaginative lately. He has a friend named "Mr. Fly" It's a fly that lives in our house. He had a rock that was his friend named "Clover". Clover is MIA.

The other day he was sitting in the booster in the very back of the van when his seatbelt was undone. I asked why he undid his belt. Reason: A bee flew in the window and unbuckled it.

Don't know how appropriate these are to share, but they are awful cute.

He found our sporting goods cabinet.

She found the lipstick in my car.

I love this little one so much!

As many of you know Anna and I spend many of our days "shopping". Here's an insiders look at our clown car. Unfortunately with the twins coming we'll have to split up our rides....or get a passenger van.

My fascinator for the Royal wedding.

Trying out a new moby hold.

Have a great week. I'll have some new pictures to post soon.

Stay Like this Four-eb-er.

2011-05-02T19:13:00.001-07:00

The old adage is true that time goes by faster as you get older. The truth of it is that I'm not even 30 and I'm already wishing it would slow down. My baby boy turned 4 today. I pick him up almost every morning and tell him that I want him to stay little "forever." Then he asks, "Why do you want me to stay little "for-eb-er?" Of course, he wants to get big and strong. Then I say, "Someday you will be so big and strong that you will pick me up." Then he will wrap his arms around me and try to lift. I know I will have a major meltdown the day my feet come off the ground. So I sit here at my computer getting all sappy and emotional because, Josiah is... 4. I'm loving (almost) every minute of him right now. He's so imaginative, talkative, inquisitive, and talkative.

Today it was all about him. I let him plan his day out. They aren't quite in order and I didn't get us starting the day out at dunkin donuts per his request. There was no party today, but the events just kept coming. I'll share a few pictures from the day.

His new Star Wars Mini-fig shirt.

The wall of legos

Build your own mini fig station

He looks at every box carefully taking in all the details.

Lillian, well... I don't know.

Train ride around the mall.

They don't come much cuter.

We went to Jungle Club (the gym) in the morning. He loves the skeleton pirate costume.

We went to see Rio (angry birds) in the evening with daddy.

When we first walked in he got scared, screamed and ran out.

I had to wait with him until the commercials were over.

A few pictures with mom cheered him up.

Opening his dirtbike, bmx, skateboard set with ramps from Aunt Kandy and Uncle Todd.

Lillian holding a tiny 3 day old kitten.

Grammy came in town for Jojo's birthday and made an AWESOME cake. It had a Star Wars Spaceship on it. All he could do was stare at it for the first 45 minutes of being there.
(This was Sunday night)

Kaylenn's 9th birthday was on the 1st

Cutie Cora Crawling around at the party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSIAH!!!

Love, mommy

Happy Easter

2011-04-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We started the day out with early church. A miracle from the Lord. Then made the family rounds. I asked Josiah why we celebrate Easter and He started out saying," Because Jesus died on the Cross and went up to the sky." The babysitter asked him yesterday about Easter his reply," The Easter bunny brings me candy!"

This picture deserves a post of its own. They need to quit coming in our bed. One good night of sleep would be a dream.

Lillian finding her basket behind the curtain.

Josiah's was hidden in the play room.

Grammy with the Grandkids.

note: Grant's older brother, Zach and his wife, Catherine are expecting in September! Can't wait to have a Kissel cousin.

Jojo can do anything to his baby sister and she loves it.

The hunt is on...

Lillian is into money right now. I really need to get her a piggy bank.

I know, she's adorable.

Coloring eggs at June Bug's.

Those are my cousin's girls: Alyssa, Lexi, and Maddy

Fun with Daddy

2011-04-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Lately the weekends have been a lot of fun. The one thing they have had in common is that Daddy has been home. I love that the kids are getting older and we can go enjoy bigger kid things as a family. I can tell the years to come are only going to get funner.

Cora's Dedication

2011-04-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we have already had Cora's dedication ceremony. Since Grant and I have pretty much decided that our family is complete there have been many bitter-sweet moments. This was a big one for me. The dedication ceremony at our church is something that has meant so much to me and I feel is a very special moment for us as parents. Our church does such a beautiful evening ceremony for our dedications. It's a time that Grant and I really come together as parents and profess that "Yes, we want to raise and direct our child in the way of the Lord." It's one thing to think it and another to stand up in front of our family and friends and put ourselves out there to be held accountable for the way we raise our children. It almost feels like a "right of passage" into parenthood. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing my beautiful little girl to prayerfully someday turn into a beautiful woman of God.

She is such a happy little girl now!

My mom and dad totally surprised us from returning from their "radiation vacation" just to come to Cora's dedication. Josiah was playing in his playroom (at 8:30 in the morning) when he just said "weewa." I walked around the corner and there they were! Thank you so much and I love you!

G-Grandma "June Bug" and Grandpa Webb

G-Grandma Lillian

G-Aunt Kandy

Notice Cora pulling Lillian's hair. Ha, sisters!

Lillian and her papaw

G-Grandma Star and Don were there, but somehow managed to escape the paparazzi.

Father, We lift Cora up to You. We pray that she may follow You in all Your ways. That she may be a light unto the world. That her tiny hands will one day grow up to serve others and serve You. Lord, we pray that her heart will give the love that You have placed in her to all of the nations, that her feet will walk wherever You lead her, that her eyes will see where You are needed, and that her lips will speak nothing but Your words. Please watch over her. Lead, guide and direct us as her parents so that we may lead her in Your ways. All of this we pray in Jesus' name, amen

Random pictures

2011-04-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's raining cats and dogs so I thought I'd put up some recent photos. I think I'm actually just avoiding the giant mountain of laundry on my bed behind me....again.

Josiah fell asleep on Grant. Probably been about 2 years since that's happened!

Grant really was that excited to cuddle a sleeping Jojo.

This is what I often look like when I go out with the kids. Yes, I usually get a lot of "looks" and well-meaning comments.

Emily and I went downtown for St. Patti's day parade. It was fun. The Canal was SO green. It was one of the first nice days we've had. It was a really great day.

Most of you probably have seen these on Facebook. I wanted to archive them here though. So someday when we look back Josiah will see what a cool mom he had ;)

Grant was all business in the range.

Yes Sir! Sergeant Kissel!

(he really wasn't that bad)

Thanks Jess, for taking the photo that makes me look like an official bad azz!

Yummy!

2011-03-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Cora has been getting really excited about us eating lately. I've given her bananas in one of those mesh bags. Which she loves. So the other night we had time to give her a try with cereal. She loved it and did a really good job. At first she was getting mad at Grant because she couldn't get it fast enough and then I had to mix another bowl while he was scraping out the first.

Cora loves, LOVES her daddy!!!

I can't believe how quickly she is growing. She is now 5 months old!

Terrible twos

2011-03-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Lillian has been having a "few meltdowns" lately. My Lord. There are some of you that are lucky enough to never have had to experience this murder to your ears. She has the LOUDEST. cry. ever... The day she was born and I heard her cry I didn't think, "what a cute newborn baby cry." No, she sounds like a freaking firetruck. Then when you add her stubbornness with the fits it almost a nuclear distaster. She now just goes into her room on her own and shuts the door (most of the time). It helps keep the peace (or as much as a solid door can) between us all.

Now after all of that look at this happy face.

Not that she doesn't deserve a post all of her own for the first 3 months of her crying.

As for an update on Miss Cora. We were at Riley two days last week to get her breathing checked out. She sounds really rattly when she breathes and it concerned my doctor. So she just wanted to get it looked at so things could be ruled out. The first day she had a chest X-ray and a barium swallow. Both of which turned up normal. I took her back the next day for an bronchial scope. In the pictures it showed a lot of redness and inflammation from the back of her throat to the opening of her lungs. So it looks as if her GERD is creating enough irritation and swelling so that when she breathes it sounds funny. The good news is that this is nothing but good news. I just need to make sure I give her her medicine more often.

I loved this picture.

It captures their exact personalities. Josiah with his coat and boots on. (He only likes weather that is 73 degrees, partly sunny, and with no wind.) Lillian tough as nails sitting on a metal tractor bare butt. It wasn't warm enough to be naked, but it was cold enough for a snowsuit either.

We had a nice surprise visit from Granny K.

Lillian dressed in her Sunday best. She loves to wear dresses. She calls them her "twinkle twinkles" or her "ballerinas."

Denim and pearls

They are definitely two peas in a pod. Where one goes the other follows.

Mixed Reviews

2011-03-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

It's funny I get people always saying that Cora looks more like her brother or more like her sister. Well... I'd say they all look a lot alike...bald and big eyed! Even while I was downloading these I got them mixed up.

Does Cora look more like Jojo or Lillian? What do you think?

Rub a dub dub...

2011-03-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

THREE DUCKS IN A TUB!

Have I mentioned just how much Jojo loves Cora :)

He thought it was great that she was in there

I thought this was great

little lamzy divey

2011-02-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

There are many nice things about having a farmer in the family: fresh produce, good examples of self discipline and hard work, big tractors, four wheelers, and the best... animals! Yesterday we went to see two lambs that were born on Feb 14th. SO CUTE! Of course Lillian the animal Lover was excited to see the cuties.

Josiah staying safely away. He was scared to go in the barn. go figure...

I was so excited to hold the lamb!

Jennifer, eat your heart out :)

Neighbor Madison came with us. oh and Sadie too. The momma sheep didn't like Sadie so much.

This is one of the goats they keep for someone. Todd told me he though it might've been $7000 for this goat, who knew!

Three of the goats are pregnant so I can't wait to see their babies!

Jojo keeping his safe distance.

(He's sitting in my lap now and just asked "why was I scared?")

side note: He is totally into watching the 1970's cartoon Godzilla and Godzuki on Netflix.

These two images may be disturbing for a few. The top one was a squirrel and the bottom one is deer legs. Our 15yr old cousin likes to hunt. Uncle Todd likes to scare Josiah with the animals he brings home. Todd told Jojo that the deer legs wander around looking for their head. Needless to say, Josiah ended up in our bed that night. Thanks a lot Todd...

Last night the Jones family came over for a visit. Oliver is getting so big. He is now 17 months old and then there is the newest addition to their family, Maxwell! He is so cute and little. I wasn't able to get a great picture of the cutester.

Of course, my post wouldn't be complete without a picture Miss Cora.

My Movie Premier

2011-02-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Josiah has had a slight interest in Disney Cars. The other day we I lined them up to take pictures. He loves to watch movies of other people cars on Youtube so I thought I'd make our own. I know, so now I'm the slightly weird and a little obsessed one. I waited until he laid down for a nap so I could arrange them the way I wanted to. Sometimes I divide his cars up and put them away because 1. he makes a mess of them and 2. it kills me to think that he might lose one. RIP Leak Less

Enjoy my OCD

Show the little ones in your lives. You might be surprised how much they enjoy it!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

Kiddos

2011-02-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Good Day Friend. I thought I'd share a variety of pictures from this past week.

Christine took this picture this week. Probably the best picture of Lillian yet. She's smiling, her eyes are open, and her hair's not a ~~complete~~ mess. This is what she looks like during her sweet moments.

Josiah still loves to hold Cora. This morning they were holding her and asked for their picture to be taken.

If you look closely you'll notice something...times up. Her mouth is taped shut. She was walking around with her pouty bottom lip sticking out. So Grant put tape on it to hold it in. She looks miserable, but this is just her mastering her degree in drama. She actually wanted it left on for awhile.

I guess there's a reason why there's buckles on seats. I was in the bathroom sort-of-potty training with Lillian. She is scared to sit on top of the big toilet by herself. So I had to choose between checking on the baby or sit with Lil for a minute. I chose not to let go of my toddler's hands so she wouldn't be forever traumatized by me abandoning her (or to scare her from ever using the toilet). I thought Cora was being really quiet and figured she fell asleep. Well...she did, in the what looked like the most uncomfortable position possible. Yes, her body is hanging off the chair, and no, her face is not buried in the fabric.

Here she is comfortably readjusted where she continued to sleep peacefully for a long time.

The End

ICE!

2011-02-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

I had fun going out one day (the first time in 4 days to breathe fresh air actually) to shoot some of the fun ice art in my yard.

Kids gone wild

2011-02-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

So I've never claimed to know everything about parenting, but lately I'm starting to rethink my laid back ways. This was a big fiasco we had not too long ago. I swear the antics they pull only get bigger as they grow bigger. This was one day where they were driving me crazy so I put them in my bath tub for confinement while I got ready for work. I caught them once with the golf magazine in the tub and I pulled it out, shot off some threats that if they did it again they were getting out. A few minutes later there was the ominous silence... this is what I walked into find.

"O black water"

Wait. What's that on Jojo's head...PAPER

I begin scooping it out by the hand full with Lillian's help

It was just too much disintegrated paper. I had to put a colander over the drain while I let the water out. then go back over the jets with a toothbrush.

Being bad is such tiring work...but wait we aren't done!

The wipes box always provides plenty of entertainment. Especially when we are supposed to be napping.

Yes, she is actually sleeping with wipes on her head.

Hope you smiled and are thanking God that you aren't me right now;)

2011-01-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've been back to work for 2 weeks now and it's going great. I've enjoyed being appreciated again and the kids have adjusted easily to having a babysitter back. Unfortunately we haven't been getting out much. I'm becoming lazy and unmotivated to get the kids in and out of the car. With that being said the kids are bouncing off the walls with cabin fever. I will gladly arrange pick ups for anyone who wishes to enjoy vibrant little children.

These are some adorable hats my grandma's, June Bug, friend made for the kids. I love them. The kids were funny about getting their pictures taken. Josiah (who normally loved the camera) was refusing, and Lillian was hamming it up. Cora, well she did the best she could before folding over in half without a backbone.

I loved getting a few exta pictures of Cora. She has such a sweet smile. I should report that we saw the specialist this week for a follow up and everything checked out well. We won't need to go back until she is 6 months. This past week has been a really great week with her. I think there were a few days where she didn't even cry! She is also waking about once a night now around 4am. She just takes a bottle laying down so she never really even wakes up much. I'm feeling much more rested and so is she.

I thought Lillian was in the bathroom with Grant. Nope. She was playing in my makeup. She did such a great job.

Have a great week!

Alabama

2011-01-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

We left the day after Christmas to visit Grammy, Grant's mom, in Alabama. I had not been down there since Jojo was 8 weeks old. We were long over due and I was nervous about the trip. The kids did great there and back. Thanks to the new dual dvd players Santa brought them and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

This is pretty much how they looked the whole way down.

Under the bomber. The bombs are right above Grant's head.

I was very impressed with this airplane. We didn't feel like doing the USS Alabama tour so we just checked out the things around the parking lot. The wing span on this beast was huge. She had a cute name though.

On the most decent day we had there Grammy took the kids and I to the beach.

This is the one picture I took of Cora...she's beneath the brown wrap.

It was so windy the only place we could find shelter from the wind for our picnic was by the Christmas tree and the parking lot. Look at the flag and the family by the red box:)

Poster child for Yoo-hoo

This was part of the shipping yard in Mobile. I wish we could've had access to see where they were actually loading the ships.

Thanks Grammy for the wonderful week. We had lots of fun and miss you already!

How many?

2011-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to You and your kin!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. All of Grant's family was able to make it in to town for the holiday. This being Cora's first Christmas made it special. Even though I failed to get her pictures taken in her dress (at target). Sorry Cora, you are the 3rd child. I understand and have forgiven my mom as I expect you will do for me someday. Being the baby does definitely have it perks, but we'll talk about that down the road. Anyway... enjoy the mile long photo stream.

#1 John and Christine

We are started out our Christmas with the Forcums. They took the kids to Christmas at the zoo and then we did presents.

All the kids received disney blankets with their names and the hallmark voice books.

#2 Christmas Eve Lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Kissel

at our house

Thankfully they brought huge Subway platters. I love not cooking!

#3 Grandma Star's Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we were at Grandma's house for the annual gag gift exchange. It was a fun evening. I have lots of funny pictures from the night, but I would bore those of you that don't know the family.

Starlena played some carols

Uncle Elf Kurt

Jacob played his harmonica for us

Josiah used his impressive photography skills

Josiah was thrilled with his "pit crew" guys

Lillian loved her princess outfits and jammies

I was very excited for my new "egg pan" I have had the same one for 10 years that I use every morning for my eggs, but since we've added more children to the equation I've out grown my old pan.

#4 Christmas Morning at our house.

The kids slept in because they were so tired from the night before.

#5 Christmas morning at Grandma Star's for breakfast

#7 Christmas lunch at My parents

The kids waiting to open their presents.

The family quilt Anna made for my mom

#8 The Kissel Christmas at night

All 28 (I think) family members from 5 different states were here

This is the way I see our family in my mind, except Cora isn't screaming her head off

"Just keep smiling and no one will notice your crazy kids or the bulging veins in your arms trying to force your children into place."

Here's my Christmas Cutie.

Needless, to say we were busy without having a Reilly or Webb Christmas which we celebrated at Thanksgiving. Whew!

Family Love

2010-12-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

We were able to all be together at Thanksgiving this year. Thanks to the Nims getting bumped from a flight last Christmas.

Weewa and Papaw with all the kids. Their personalities show in this picture.

Lillian's Papaw sharing a Peppermint shake with her. This was the treat after Dad's nurse pinning ceremony. Way to go Dad!

Josiah is still in love with his baby. He calls her his "honey bunny"

Have Merry Christmas!!!

Warm your heart

2010-12-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

I hope this brings a little warmth to you on such a cold day.

Golfer snowman

golf hat, golf ball nose, club arms, and tee's for eyes, mouth, and nose

The poor thing wasn't properly dressed. Luckily her little hands weren't frost bit and her legs weren't icebergs. I sat her on the warm register with a blanket and hot chocolate. She thought she was awesome.

dirt bike snowman

We went back to the Dr. again for a follow up on Cora. She is still fussy, but her poo is better. We've added another medication for her GERD. I've completely cut dairy from my diet. It is in everything! It took me 2 hours to grocery shop since I was checking the labels. Next time your in your kitchen just look at the allergy listing under the ingredients. (If it doesn't contain dairy and it's something tasty let me know!) I'm starvin' marvin all the time. I guess she had quite of bit of inflammation in her rectum from the dairy & maybe soy. They said is would take a bit for it all to heal up. I am currently nursing and supplementing with an outrageously expensive formula. So I'm going to nurse as long as possible, but if my sanity becomes an issue I'll be bottling her all the time :)

We put the tree up one cold evening. The kids loved it.

Lillian doing her Twinkle Little Star ballet moves.

Yes, my kids wore their halloween costumes while putting up the Christmas tree.

Updates

2010-12-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun with Grammy being in town to meet Cora and the Nims spending two weeks at Weewa's house. As some of you know the past two weeks have been slightly chaotic for us besides all of the family being around. I'll start with Cora.

Ever since Cora has been born she's been a "fussy butt"... literally. Almost 3 weeks ago I finally took her to the Doc to see what's going on. She's been fussy, gassy, and pooing funny. The Doc sent us up to St. V's for some test. Praise the Lord (not being sarcastic) it wasn't what they thought it was, Hirschsprung's disease. So today we finally received some answers! I saw a great specialist who explained everything incredibly well, and told me every problem I've been having with Cora before I even told her. To say the least I'm so thankful to have solutions and she told me, "We are going to make you a new baby."

So here it is:

1) Bacterial Overgrowth- causing stimulation of the internal sphincter (that word makes me laugh)

caused from some antibiotics I was on before I delivered her

This explains all of her grunting or as we call them her "squirrel noises"

treatment: 7 days antibiotics

2) GERD aka Acid reflux

this surprised me, but made sense when she explained.

It's causing her stuffy nose which in return makes it hard to breathe while nursing, causes more air intake, therefore adding to the gassy problem

Also, leaves her with heartburn, therefore never wanting to lay down (eg. always wanting to be in her wrap or held).

treatment: Prilosec

3) Allergic to dairy

This was not a surprise even though it's not what I wanted to hear.

This is linked closely to #2. Anyone who knows me personally knows I love dairy. She should outgrow this around 6-8 months.

treatment: I have to cut all dairy (soy is not an option)

& use a special formula

Anyway I hope that clears some things up for those of you who have been following what was going on. We appreciate all the prayers that were said.

Jojo fell this week and had to get his chin dermabonded together. Thank goodness because Grant nor I could've handled watching the stitches. He was such a good boy. He did just as the Dr asked and never cried while we were there.

Lillian was holding onto the coat of hers he was wearing and then let go. He landed chin first onto the wood floor. I saw it all and he was not able to break his fall at all. I knew it was going to need medical attention the second it happened.

Lillian is now starting to have a hard time sharing mommy's attention. She has been a pistol lately and very needy. She looks at me and says, "hold you". This was a day where she fell asleep on the kitchen table not long after breakfast. I should mention she's also working on getting some more molars.

This was a picture I came across on the camera. I'm glad Grant took it. There's nothing more that I love to do than to take naps with my kids.

Amanda's gift

2010-11-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for everyone to take a peak at Amanda's wonderful talent once again. She took maternity photos, family photos, and Cora's newborn photos. I can't say enough how much I love her amazing eye for capturing our family the way we are. Her art freezes us for a special moment the way I want to remember our family forever. Enjoy the slideshow. She put all three sessions together so it takes a few minutes.

www.amandaelpersphotography.com

portraits...clients...password...cora

Thank you Amanda you are such a blessing! For anyone else that appreciates Amanda taking our pictures as much as I do leave a little "love" down in the comments (she does read this :) or let us know which ones you really enjoyed.

warning

2010-11-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

So I should just say before you call CPS on me know that I was with my kids the whole time they were "playing" with the space bag. I was working on my blog with the kids in my bedroom when they were making lots of noise and I looked over to see this...

No, the bag is not zipped

I hope you got more of a laugh than a scowl at this. ;)

Chili Cook Off

2010-11-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

Danny and Erin had a chili cook-off down at their house. It was a beautiful weekend to go eat chili on their porch in Brown County. We benefited from the naps on the ride down, getting to spend time with mom, and getting out of the house with Cora. There were about 9 chilis I think and they were good. Nathan and Hillary's won.

Danny had little boxes hidden around for the kids to go find.

Lillian with her box

You tell it was a good time from just looking at this picture :)

Hillary holding Cora (6 days old)

They just found out they are having a baby boy.

She literally was going around and eating any candy she could find.

All the kids playing on the "hill"

Josiah was scared of the hill last year

Lillian wanted to be a baby too. Cora is on my chest wrapped up in her moby. The moby wrap has been wonderful with her.

Danny with Eddie... Cora and I
Danny and I were born 1 month apart and the kids are 3 months.

Lillian's 1st Haircut

2010-11-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

So I finally did it! I held off as long as I could. Lillian had her very fist haircut. She was squirmy and loved making silly faces at herself. It made her look like a big girl. Of course I had to fix it in a couple of days to even it out. She was just too busy during the cut. She looks so cute and everyone has said how old she looks. I sure do miss her cute pigtails though. I'll put them back in soon, but for now it has been kind of nice not having to mess with "The Scraggle."

We've been getting this looks a lot lately. It's her scary dinosaur.

It's actually shorter than this now and it flips under.

I didn't realize just how tired I looked until I saw these pics.

Josiah went missing during the haircut. I found him in the bathroom located in the middle of the salon, door wide opened, wiping his bum.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great halloween this year. It actually felt like real trick or treating. Josiah picked out his spiderman costume. We couldn't decide on what to dress Lillian up as until we saw it and it was perfect... a callerina or caterina... a kitty/ ballerina. Two of her favorite things combined, score! Anyway, they loved getting dressed up and getting candy. Who doesn't?

Cora with her little kitty nose and somewhat whiskers.

Trunk or treating at mom and dad's church

the tail was too cute

throwing webs

trick or treating on Christine's street. We did about 4 or 5 houses before Jojo said he was done.

TT opening the door for them.

Cora LeeAnn Kissel

2010-10-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to show you our newest blessing. Cora was born on October 18th at 8:41am. It's so exciting to have our family completed with another little girl. I was surprised to have another girl, even though I would've been just as surprised if she would've been a boy. She is so cute and looks like her big sister. So far she is a little... high maintenance. We've been there before with her brother and I can now finally understand that it is only for a short while. I know with Jojo it drove me crazy when good hearted people said that. Anyway, God has been so good to us and we definitely are blessed.

I woke up with Lillian at 2am and realized labor had started. We arrived at the hospital around 4am. I was still extremely comfortable and surprised when the nurse said I was 6cm. I continued to walk with the doula and was hoping that I would make it until 7 am when my Dr. was back on call.

Dr. T came in around 8 and checked me and I had only progressed to almost an 8. So she went ahead and broke my water. I was determined to get the show on the road. I was getting frustrated for still not having any labor pains, but only pressure. So I started lunging on a chair and stuff of that sort. Then the baby dropped. I had about 3 contractions I had to breathe and concentrate through then I let them know I was ready to push. I got up on the table and then with 1 or 2 contractions our beautiful little girl was here. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around not having pain with labor. It was a very weird feeling, but I should be very grateful. When ever some one new would come in the room I would tell them to "come join the party" and they would look at me like I was crazy.

Getting to hold Cora for the first few seconds. The took her to her table fast and had to get the fluid out of her lungs.

Starting on the nursing already.

Another great thing is I've literally had zero recovery. My hips were sore for a few hours after, but other than that I got up and took a shower as soon as possible. It was wonderful that I was able to make breakfast for the kids the first morning home and take care of them as always without being in discomfort. Of course, by the second day home I was ready to get out. So GG and I went shopping for some essentials.

Proud daddy as always

Getting her hair washed before visitors arrive.

They were both soooo excited to meet Cora.

First family photo

The second day the kids were there for about 4 hours and they were so cute just chillin.

Cora finishing up her sleep with Daddy while I showered.

Getting ready to head on home.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes. I can't wait until everyone gets the chance to meet her. I'll try to update as often as possible. Golly though, this one took me a whole week to get the chance to sit down and actually work on one post.

Word to your cuz

2010-10-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Since I've been off of work I've been trying to get around to a few things that we don't normally get to do that are fun for the kids. So we headed down to Brown County on a perfect fall day. The kids and I had lunch with Danny. Then we headed over to Michael and Jenni's. Josiah loves playing with Eli. It's fun because he doesn't have really many boys to play with and they play well together. Erin and Eddy were able to come over and hang out too. I was able to hold the little cutester for a while.

Cody, Lillian, Josiah, Eddy, Eli

watching Tom and Jerry

Giving good bye hugs

It was a beautiful fall day. As the rain front rolled in the leaves were blowing like crazy and the way they were coming off the trees were magical. The light specks are all the leaves.

In the next 3 sets of pictures I took mom's card and uploaded some of the 777 pictures off of her camera. Anna and I call her Paparazzi because she takes such an obscene amount of pictures. Only to never do anything with them. She takes wonderful pictures! Someday I'm going to go and get the 2000 pictures of my kids and print off some shots.

My only cousin on the Reilly side, Mark, married Bren this July. They had an absolutely gorgeous wedding! So now there's one more cousin and hopefully more little cousins will follow :)

Daniel & Nicole, Grant, Jessica, Mark, Bren, Anna, Jeff, Darby & David

(Daniel and David are Mark's 2 other cousins)

Beautiful!

Mark and Christine

Such a cute picture of Mark and Grandpa George.

At the end of July the Collier family came to visit from Colorado. It was so fun to have family around. I did blog about this back in July, but here's the picture that Paparazzi was able to capture.

Congratulations to the Collier family as they just welcomed a little brother, Enoch, on Oct. 12th.

Lillian, Josiah, Dove, Sophia, Jensen, Hope

Weewa watched the kids while Anna took me to get my car the other day and, once again, she took some super cute pictures. I was lucky to get my hands on this set the day they were taken.

It seems like in no time they will all be the same size

Work or play

2010-10-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

I had the kids dressed up for pictures at the salon. They weren't cooperating there so I just told the photographer not to worry about it and then I brought them to Weewa's. We had a super fun day taking some pictures and then literally playing and "working".

I was sooo bummed. My camera settings were wrong and so I think what could've been the best pictures they've had together didn't quite turn out.

making pouty bubbles

My lovies!

One of the best feelings in the whole world!

I love this silly girl. She was pushing on my face and just being rotten.

I saw this pink chair in mom's barn and had to take advantage.

No, that isn't Crocodile Dundee... it's Pawpa!

Lillian loved the skid steer. She rode for quite a while.

It took Jojo a long time to warm up to the thought of even getting on the thing.

He thinks everything is cooler from a distance.

walking through the "Jungle" as Josiah calls it.

She mimicked every move Pawpa made. So cute. Have I ever mentioned how much she loves him? Some how she missed the full blown "Weewa Effect" and is under "Pawpa's spell"

Coming back for more?

2010-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

So this cat's name is Sam. Sam has been such a good and patient kitty. Many times I wonder if he was dropped on his head as a baby. He's been visiting us about once a day or two. He is soooo sweet. He purrs even when he is being held only by his neck, under the bed covers, or in jumpball position between the kids.

"Life is good while....

watching toons with the kids

taking a high speed "stroll"

nuzzled by Jojo

or lounging on the countertop."

(my favorite picture. I really questioned his mental state when I saw this taking place)

I'm trying to get these posts in while I have time and before I have a new subject to post on. Speaking of as of Oct 5. I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. We are headed off to Jacob and Emily's wedding this weekend. We aren't very worried though. I was progressed early with the other kids and they were on time and late. Wednesday was my last day of work and I felt like a kid going on Christmas break. Hopefully I'll get some one on one time with the kids before #3. Also, still taking suggestions for girl names.

Pretty Ears

2010-10-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

June Bug had been so excited to get Lillian's ear pierced. So I decided for her birthday I would finally take the plunge. Now I always thought I would get my little girl's ears pierced when she was a baby like my mom did when I was a baby. When it came down to it I always had a reason why it wasn't the right time. For one thing it's crazy how strongly people feel on the subject of ear piercing. As with most things in parenting, I don't have a really strong opinion on what the "right" thing to do is. I could see the pros and cons both ways. The only thing I knew from my experience is that I don't remember the pain of getting mine done, don't remember the fear or having to make that decision as a "X" year old. So with some encouragement from my Grandma or maybe it was the challenge that she thought I would back out, we decided to get it done. It wasn't that bad and I'm happy that this is a gift she'll have from her great grandma for the rest of her life. Or maybe Lillian will hate me for the rest of her life for having her subjected to the pain at such a young age and stripping her of the right to choose what holes to put in her body. Although I'm sure someday it'll be me begging her not to put in anymore holes.

She sat like such a big girl.

This was serious business

The moment before

during the middle of the act

all over.

"Let's look at your pretty earrings in the mirror"

Oh wait! I forgot to tell them that she is a complete drama queen when she looks in the mirror. So the floods gates opened wide... just for a minute, then stopped as quickly as they began...

.... because she got a sucker! All better.

Walking through the mall happily with June Bug.

I must admit it wasn't as bad as I expected. I really wanted to take her to an actual tattoo/piercer. It's worse when I take her to get her shots. Then she does the "silent scream" before the real tears come. This was super quick and the holes were nicely placed on her ears.

Riley Park

2010-10-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

On Lillian's actual birthday we took her to the park to play... and take pictures. I bought these outfits for them awhile ago and had their pictures taken at Target. The only one I purchased was the one of Josiah crying while Lillian was laughing her head off. We had such a good time. We are able to make it over to Riley park about once a month. They have fun on the playground except I'm constantly worried that they are going to end up in the creek. Enjoy the pics of my big 2 year old, Lillian, and the always cute, Josiah.

Apple of our eye

2010-09-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our little girl is 2. Lillian is a one of kind. I love how serious, how cuddly, and how sweet she can be. My favorite is to just to watch her do her own thing. She makes me laugh all the time just by watching her. Josiah is trys to be a clownShe thought she was pretty for her birthday with the bow on her head and sparkles in her hair. It has been such a fun two years with her. I can't think of any really tough times I've had with her. I'm sure those will come later down the road as she gets old, but for now I'm going to continue loving every minute with this funny girl.

Lillian has daddy wrapped around her finger. She loves to gives him kisses and wants to know where he's at every morning. Then when he comes home in the evening she runs with her arms wide open and yells "Daddy."

Looking like a big girl. The shirt was perfect considering how much she likes to eat.

Anna and I made the cupcakes. It was so much fun and they looked just as good as the pictures.

She had fun opening her presents.

Grandpa John and Grandma Alma were able to come over one night to celebrate. She loved her "princess" clothes. She's still wearing the beads. The wand and crown have already been demolished. Sorry Grandpa, but they were lovely while they lasted.

Grant and the kids also went out with Grammy for a birthday fiesta.

Looks like he's having too much fun.

I guess she wasn't such a fan of the sombrero.

Happy Birthday Lillian. We love you so much!!!

Also, thank you to everyone for making our little girl feel so special.