Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Pictures up to noon on Christmas Day

Christmas is over?

That's right, it has been here and has gone. I am still trying to figure out where the last week has gone. We were in Springfield,MO a week ago getting ready to finsih our drive to Wisconsin. We have been having lots of fun the last week, but it has been exhausting. Being sick and having one kid being sick doesn't help either. Both Maddie and I have been fighting colds for the last week. I guess my body has gotten used to the warm weather and isn't able to take the change as easily. We spent last week at Chad's parent's house- everyone was there and we had a good time. We didn't get too much game playing in, but we did get a round of Fact or Crap in on Christmas Eve. It was a fun game that Josh had gotten as a present. Maddie loves to open presents and she opened pretty much everyone's. She also crashed by about 8pm in the middle of the living room just completely exhausted. Christmas Day was with the Heffelfingers. Most of the presents were opened by adults because the kids just wanted to play with each other. We then headed to my aunt and uncle's house for the evening. Yesterday was a relaxing day. We did get to take our new wagon out for a spin. Maddie, Ben, Joel, and I took them to the playground and Ben and Maddie played for awhile. We ended the evening with us at the Chancery for dinner. We were going to go to Friday's Front Row, but no hot water. Today is a trip up to Germantown to see some of Chad's aunts, uncles, and cousins. We have a lazy day tomorrow and then Friday we will be getting ready to head home on Saturday morning. We are spending New Year's in Carrollton, so our drive is a little bit shorter than normal, so that is helpful. Now we will just have to see if all of our stuff can fit in the car. We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and that your New Year is happy.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Our Christmas

A moment to relax

Okay, so I have about a half an hour before the Wilke's come over, so we can celebrate Christmas with them. I figured I should give a real update about us and the girls. The last few weeks have been just a whirlwind of time. I don't even know where most days go to. Okay, so Maddie has been getting over her double ear infection. She has been a real trooper about it. She has been more active everyday. We are getting into our "terrible twos" already. She is starting to throw mini-tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is still as active as ever. She got to write the Christmas letter this year. This afternoon after church we had our Christmas here and she was just loving it. I can't wait to see what she is like when we are with everyone up north. We had to wait until Chad got back from school this afternoon and there were a few times where I caught her trying to open the presents on her own. We got her a train set and she loves it. She has been playing with it all afternoon.

Emma is still growing more and more. She is so ready to crawl and gets so mad that she can't move around. She has started growling at people. It is quite humorous to have her start growling in church. She likes to pull the paper off the presents, but has no idea what is going on.

I feel like we are closer to being ready to go than we were just a few hours ago. Tomrrow will be another story. Chad starts finals tomorrow. His final is actually on Wednesday, but he won't be there, so he had to get everything done and copied, so he is ready to go. We will hopefully have an uneventful trip and get to Wisconsin in a timely fashion. We get to stop in St. Louis and see Jamie and Greg and to meet their daughter Naomi on Wednesday for lunch.

In Memory

On Friday afternoon, Reverend Edwin Keiper was called home to the Lord. This is Isaac's grandpa and Paul's (the A.D. at CLHS) dad. Paul and Christa have been in Austin off and on since after Thanksgiving. The funeral is on Thursday here in Houston, but we will already be in Wisconsin. I know that some of you who read this blog, know Paul's brother Val from CUW- all of the siblings have been in Austin for the last few days. So we are praying for all the Keiper's.

We're Back

Well we are back up and running here at the house. I am hoping to actually post something to read tonight. We are frantically trying to get everything ready to leave on Tuesday. I have laundry going right now and so that means trying to get the girls started on packing. We will see if I can get something up later, if not I'll post once we get to Wisconsin and let you know all about our road trip.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Technical Difficulties

We are experiencing technical difficulties at our house with our internet, so I'm not completely sure when we will be back up and running, so I am posting from school. We are in the rush this week of trying to get everything done for the trip home. Everyone is doing fine. Maddie went to the doctor on Friday for her 18 month check up. She is great, except that she has a double ear infection. She hasn't been acting any different than normal. This would explain the extra clumsiness she has been experiencing the last week or so. So we will hopefully get some pics up when we are back up and running at the house, but for now, we will be getting ready for our trip home and will see a lot of you in the next few weeks.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Winter Weather is Welcome

I know, I know, all you northerners and your snow are probably saying to yourself that I am crazy for wanting winter weather. But you have to remember something, our winter weather is your spring weather without the snow. In the evenings it has been getting down to freezing and during the days it is anywhere from 50-60. By the end of the week we are suppose to be back into the high 60's, but then another front should move in. Now if you are still wondering why I want the winter weather, it is probably because I was born and raised up by you. I like having 4 seasons, not 2- comfortable and uncomfortable. Anyways, enough with the weather. As much as most of you don't like the snow, I am hoping that it will be there when we get there in a couple of weeks. Remember that Christmas is the only time Maddie will get the chance to have snow. There are kids at the high school who have never seen snow- I don't want Maddie to be like that.

This week-what a week. We were getting back into the swing of things from Thanksgiving break. Chad thought that his grades were due on Monday, but instead he had all the way until Friday to get them done, so that was some relief for him. Wednesday he got to take the day off and come home to help with the girls, as I seemed to had pulled something in my back. I was reaching in the cupboard for a bowl and then I couldn't move, it had been spasing for a little while, but then after they stopped, it was just real sore, so trying to pick up our two girls was a feat in itself. So he came home and helped. The weekend wasn't too much of anything. Friday he had to ref at one of the grade schools with Phill, so I went and picked up Christian from his basketball practice and then we had pizza with them at our place. Saturday I was set on getting some Christmas shopping done, but ended up with not too much. Sunday we ended up going to late church and then we just spent the day playing and watching football. I did get the tree and decorations up and Maddie is still a little curious about the tree. She hasn't taken any ornaments off, but has to go around and touch them all. She has tried to put the lights in her mouth.

This week looks pretty slow. Maddie has her 18month check up on Friday. I think that she has grown up, but I don't think she has grown out, we will see. This weekend is the faculty Christmas party. I'm not sure if we are both going or if I am just going to send Chad. We will see how the week goes.

We leave in two weeks from tomorrow and I am already trying to get things ready here. I have been trying to make a list of the things that we will need in the car and for the ride. I'm sure we will be getting ready up until the moment we leave. Have a great week.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

This week in Pictures

Thanksgiving 2006

Jamie has started putting these slide shows on her blog and since I have completely redone my blog, I thought that maybe I would try something a little different with my pictures too.

It has been awhile since my last post, but that might have something to do with the fact that we haven't been home in over a week. Last Saturday (the 18th) was a playoff football game, we won 65-41. That meant that they survived another week. We took off for Carrollton on Sunday morning about 9:30am. We got there about 2:30, that was after a short stop in Ennis for lunch. Chad had the opening worship for the conference on Sunday, so the girls and I stayed home. Monday Maddie was in heaven with having other kids to play with. Kathy watches 4 kids, but only three of them were there, so Maddie had friends to play with the whole day. Emma and I did some errand running in the morning and then came home for a nap. I went to pick Chad up at Prince of Peace and we went out with some of the staff from CLHS. It was nice to be out without the girls. Tuesday was a short day for Chad, so the girls and I went and picked him up and we went to the mall for lunch. We then headed home and that night Adam (Chad's college roommate), Kimi-another CUWer, and her husband came over and had dinner with us. We then ended up playing 8-handed euchre. It was a lot of fun. Wednesday was a hang out day. We went to church in the evening and then came home and played more cards. Thursday-Turkey Day. The girls gave us a great Thanksgiving present and they both slept for about thre hours. Emma was in the pack-n-play all by herself. It was so nice to have my hands free to do other things. We got to play outside since it was 78degrees. We ate and of course played more cards. Friday we (the girls) did venture out to Michaels for a few things. The boys stayed home and watched the Texas/A&M game. A&M did come out the winner, but it was a good game. We took Eric and Christina out for pizza while Dave and Kathy celebrated their anniversary. We came back and watched The Incredibles and then when everyone got home, it was another round of cards. I have no idea who won how many games, but we will have to get the official scoring from Dave and make sure we let Grandma and Grandpa Bickel know. Saturday we headed out at about 9:30. After taking out time and stopping at Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet, we managed to pull in about 2:45pm. Last night was a try to get unpacked and get things together. Maddie was so happy to see all her toys, that she managed to take everyone out of her toybox, all the ones off the shelves, and even dump her bins in her room. It is like is was some sort of homecoming ritual for her. Today was church, grocery shopping and football. We still have some unpacking to do and some getting the house in order. We are going to get all the Christmas stuff out next weekend and start the decorating. This week should be pretty low key, nothing major going on. Chad has just 8 weeks until baseball, so planning is beginning. We have just three weeks until we leave for Christmas and so we still have shopping to get done (I have a feeling that some of that will be done once we get to Wisconsin), and plans to make for while we are home.

We hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We can't wait to see everyone in just a few weeks for Christmas. I am hoping for some snow for Maddie to be able to play and sled in. I just have this feeling that she will love sledding.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

In a new weight class

Well Emma had her 4 month check-up today and I think that she now weighs more than her cousin Ella who will be a year old next month. She had to get shots again today, but she did great. Maddie didn't have to have a check up, her's is next month. We got some medicine to hopefully clear up both of their colds that have made their noses run constantly for the last 3 weeks. We go through about a box of kleenex every 2 days. Other than that, just still recovering from the trip home last weekend. We are getting ready to leave again on Sunday morning after church. Saturday is the football playoff game, I don't think we will be going, but Chad has to be there to supervise. At least the game starts at 6pm instead of 7:30, so he should get home semi-early. We hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and it may be awhile until we post again.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

What a Weekend

We have been gone and back to Wisconsin and it seemed like such a whirlwind weekend, but it was a whole lot of fun. The flight up there was good. Emma had a little hard time adjusting and then finally fell asleep. At least there was another kid on the plane that screamed the whole flight. Then Friday we went to Martin Luther and got a chance to catch up with Mr. Wingfield and saw cousin Alex in class. We met Amy, Ben, and Sam at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed out to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Ben and Maddie had lots of fun playing games and running around. The rest of the day was spent hanging out. Saturday was Eric and Jackie's wedding. It was a good time. We went to the hotel after the ceremony and just waited for the reception to start. By 6pm some of the Janetzke clan came to take Emma and watch her up in the room. Maddie then stayed and danced for awhile. She was having a ball, she was dancing and doing sommersaults everywhere, even on the dance floor. We hung out for awhile, but came to the conclusion that we are getting old as we all sat around a table and just talked. In the morning we got up and ate breakfast with everyone and then it was off to the Janetzke's for the day. It was awesome to meet Luke and to see everyone. Not too much to report from Sunday, just a lot of catching up and hanging out. The flight back was pretty uneventful. We got back to the house by about 3:30 and it was just getting things in order for the rest of the night. I have loads of laundry to do to get ready to pack to go up to Carrollton this weekend. I can hardly believe that next week is already Thanksgiving. Tonight we are going to the girls basketball game, since the next home game isn't until December 15th or something like that. We have about 5 weeks until Christmas. That isn't that far away either. We are looking forward to having a little bit more time to see everyone then. Here are pictures from this weekend.














Get outta my way- Stuart and I might just run you over














Here's how Emma spent her day at Chuck E Cheese















Almost everyone looking at the camera















Waiting for the party to start














Just can't get them all at the same time














Cousin Ella-boy does she have one heck of a scream














Dancing with dad














Luke and Emma just talking to each other














Luke might be wearing the wrong colors, but we still love him

Sunday, November 05, 2006

A warm up here, so I think we'll head up north

Yes, we had our fall weather. It did dip down into the 40's at night here, but this week it is suppose to be back to 80 by Thursday. So what a perfect time to fly to Wisconsin and feel the nice 20 degree weather. I have a feeling that the longer we are down here, the harder it is going to be to adjust to the cold when we go back to visit. I think that I will be able to tolerate the cold because we get to see everyone. I am getting so excited to head home. It seems like it has been forever since we have seen anyone, even though Grandma and Aunt Jana were just down here three weeks ago. I have started to try to get organized for the week, but I'm sure that on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning we will be getting everything together.

This weekend was Homecoming. We did manage to get to the game and stay for the entire thing. We won 42-14. Maddie loves going to the games, so she can just run around with all the other kids. It was a little cold. It actually felt like football weather. Saturday Chad had announcing duty at school. The TAPPS had regional play at school and so he announced all the games. We went up and when the games were down, Maddie did what she does best, ran around the gym. Today has been a pretty lazy day. We went to church and came home and I went grocery shopping, it has been watching football the rest of the day. I have managed to throw some laundry in and get some other cleaning done too. This week looks pretty low key, just getting ready to go on Thursday. Christian does have a basketball game on Tuesday and so we might go to that. We can't wait to see everyone and meet cousin Luke. Maddie has been practicing her dance moves, so she can dance with cousin Ben at the party where there will be cake (Ben told me that there was going to be cake at this party on the phone the other day).














Maddie never wants to leave her hair in ponytails, so this is what she normally looks like when she pulls them out.














Here are the girls waiting for the game to start on Friday, Maddie was trying to sit like Emma (since she was propped up on the couch)














Outside at school, just hanging out on the picnic tables



















Always wondering why the camera is always in her face














Isaac trying to give Maddie a kiss

Thursday, November 02, 2006

2 pumpkins, a duck, an A&M football player, and Superman

Here is the line up minus one pumpkin. The missing pumpkin is Faith, but she was there. Well we went trick or treating up in the Sommermeyer's neighborhood on Tuesday. It isn't like we don't like our neighborhood, but we just thought that it would be more fun to go with other people. Maddie had a great time. She just followed Isaac and Gabe's lead. We then went back to the Sommermeyer's house for pizza and to hang out just for a little while. Other than Halloween this week, we haven't had too much going on. This week is Homecoming and the big game is tomorrow. I think that we will be going, since this is the last home game anyways.

The weather has cooled down here, so that has been nice. The last few days it has been in the high 60's, which has just been wonderful. It actually feels like fall. We are hoping that when we get to Wisconsin next week, we will get to see some fall colors. Hopefully no snow, we can wait for Christmas for that.

Emma News: She is getting to be her own person more and more everyday. She definetly is the complete opposite of Maddie. She is going to be our high maintenence kid. She is growing more and more. She is getting the hang of sitting up for just a few seconds at a time. She has rolling over from her tummy to back down, now we just need to get her from her back to tummy.

Maddie News: She continues to amaze me that we haven't made a trip to the ER yet. She will no doubt have some broken bone in her life. She is learning new words. There is going to be a day where she just starts saying them all at once. She is also learning some signs for some words. We have please and thank you down and are working in a few more.

Us News: Pretty much the girls' lives are our lives. Chad is working hard on getting baseball together, since the first practice is January 23rd. It isn't that far away. We are all looking forward to our visit home next week. We will have then just 4 days after we get back from Wisconsin to get ready to head up to Dallas for Thanksgiving.

Here are a few pictures from the last week:



























Thursday, October 26, 2006


Dont' look at the arm around Ella. (Ella is 10 months and I think Emma actually out-weighs her) Posted by Picasa


Kate (if she would stand on her feet, she would be taller) Posted by Picasa


The Chicago Heffelfingers at the pumpkin patch Posted by Picasa


"I bet you $5 I can lift this" Posted by Picasa


"Mom, why am I wearing this stupid hat?" Posted by Picasa


This is the look she is always giving Maddie Posted by Picasa


The hams of the family Posted by Picasa


Can't sit still.. Posted by Picasa


Can't sit still-do you see a pattern? Posted by Picasa


Right before the rain started Posted by Picasa

Rain, rain everywhere

It first started with school getting rained out last Monday and then it was rain yesterday both here and Saint Louis, so that meant no baseball for anyone. Chad I think was relieved. He was still bummed about Tuesdays game and had a bad day yesterday, so he told me he didn't think he would be able to take whatever outcome. He was emotionally spent. We still went over to Diane's house to wait it out. We all thought that the game was going to be played. During the day I had made Emma and Maddie tigers t-shirts from an iron on transfer on the computer. So then when Chad got home and saw them, he wanted one too. So we ended up making him, Phill, and Kim one too. I didn't get a picture of them all, but I'm sure that I will here some other time this week.

Last weekend Grandma and Aunt Jana came for a visit. They got in on Friday night. We went and got them from the airport. Maddie was putting on a show two minutes after getting them. We went to the pumpkin farm on Saturday. It is actually a Christmas Tree Farm, so it wasn't too big, but enough for Maddie. We then came home to relax and then get ready for Concordia's Dinner Auction. We left Grandma and the girls and headed up to The Woodlands. We had a good time. Chad kept leaving to check the score of the game. Mike also kept texting Jana anytime there was a change in the score. It was a fun night out. Grandma ventured to the playground with Maddie and it sounded like they had a good time. Sunday was church and then something to eat. We then had people over for the game on Sunday night. We just grilled out, grandma made German potatoe salad and an eclair torte. It was kind of comical, because I think that we had to run to the store about 4 times, because we kept forgetting some ingredient. Monday we went to breakfast and then it was off to drop them off at the airport. It was a short visit, but a good one.

The rest of this week has been a blur. Tuesday was parent/teacher conferences, so Chad had a long day. Today he is reffing a scrimmage at girls basketball try-outs, tomrorow is Football, Saturday I am co-hosting a party (at least it is not at our house), there is also a fallball baseball tournament at school, next week is Homecoming, so that means that sometime this weekend Chad will have to go supervise decorating. Then we have just two weeks from today that we will be leaving for Wisconsin. We are hoping that there is no snow, but at least some pretty fall colors. There are none of those here.

We hope that you are keeping warm. It has finally "cooled" off here. It has only been in the 70's with very little humidity. It is suppose to warm up a little, but not too much. We can't wait to see everyone in two weeks. Have a good rest of the week and a good weekend.

Sunday, October 15, 2006


Ride em' garbage Posted by Picasa