Trip report

Okay, here's the rundown of the Thanksgiving trip, for those of you who have waited patiently for it and for those of you (you know who you are!) who have waited less than patiently:

It snowed the 2-5" they'd been predicting on Wednesday, so Carrie got to observe snowflakes and check 'em out on our trip to Kroger, along with all the other last minute Thanksgiving shoppers. She loved it and wanted to eat it.

Thanksgiving Day we ate dinner at the Somerville house along with Mike & Leeann Severe. They are all friends of ours from church. Jeff and Brigetta Somerville have 5 kids: April, Robin, Noah, Rene, and Mika. Mika is the only one younger than Carrie, and I must say, I already have those kids in mind to babysit for Carrie someday. She had a blast! (They even have fish!) We went back home to finish packing and then the Severes took us to the Dwight, IL Amtrak station. It's an unmanned station that doesn't even allow overnight parking, hence the ride there. Carrie enjoyed running around the closed station building and checking out the snow.

Then the train arrived and she had a great time cruising up and down the aisle, waving to people, playing hide & seek from her chair with people behind her, waving out the window, etc. The closer it got to bedtime, the more active she became. You just can't reason with an 18 month old. We ended up having to put her in her car seat, face her against the wall/ window, and drape a blanket over that seat and the one in front of her. She was NOT a happy camper and let everyone around us know it. I'm sure those poor Thanksgiving travelers were thinking the same thing we were, "never again!" The moral of the story is to wait until your kids are 10. Or 30.

Anyway, when we got to St. Louis, one of Kelly's friends, Greg, kindly picked us up and took us to Kelly & Becky's house where we stayed for two nights. We got their mail, watered the pepper plants, and otherwise tried to keep Carrie from decimating their Christmas decorations. She REALLY liked that purple star ornament on the bottom of your tree, guys. And the coasters, the remotes, and the Santa covered tissue box. So if any of the above are found in odd places, you'll know why. It wasn't Hershey! ;)

We picked up our new Honda Pilot on Friday (Becky left us her car & keys to get there and we caravaned back) in south St. Louis. We went back in on Saturday to pick up some accessories (heavy duty floor mats, a cargo tray, and crossbars) and thought about going to the Galleria but decided to just head home. Pepe, (the Pilot for those of you who don't name your cars), rides like a dream and doesn't drive like a tank- something that was a must for me. Carrie actually slept for two hours on the way home- something that hasn't happened for a long time.

Oh, while we were in St. Louis we ate at a Thai restaurant on Delmar St... reminds us a lot of 23rd St in Portland w/ all the shops. Then of course we had to hit Ben & Jerry's since it was only a few blocks away. We opened up the back of the Pilot and had an ice cream picnic. Let it be known for the record that the first spill was NOT Carrie's fault, but Scott's as he dropped a bit of strawberry ice cream. Ha HA! ;) Sorry, honey. =D So when you see the new car, be sure to ask about the strawberry stain. Hehehehe! Just kidding, sweetie...

With no further ado, here's what you've all been waiting for. The pictures! Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving yourselves =)

Strawberry ice cream in the Pilot 

trying to keep her occupied... 

Are we there YET? I'm getting tired! 

Put me down, Dada, I wanna run! 

Carrie in motion 

Dada, Carrie, Mike Severe at train station 

First snow 

Carrie at window 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We got our 2-5 inches of snow that they were predicting for yesterday, so today looks absolutely beautiful w/ ice hanging off the trees and clear blue skies! We'll be eating the bird at the Sommerville place, with some other friends also from church. Then it's off to the Amtrak station for a trip to St. Louis so we can pick up our new Honda Pilot- yippiiiiiiiiie!

Sadly, all the Kurths will be in St. C except us, so we'll house-sit for Kelly & Becky's house in St. Louis for two nights and water their pepper plants. Hehe! Oh well...

So have a terrific, thankful day and we'll be sure to post pictures of Care Bear's first train ride when we return. Love you all. Thanks for blessing our lives!

It's For You...

At the request of my mother (hi Mommee!), here's some shots of Care Bear on her new phone. It was an early Christmas gift from my parents. It records quick messages and plays them back. Somehow it rings too ;) Haven't figured out all that stuff yet! She loves it and has been pushing all the buttons for two days. Enjoy!

Her nose is still runny, but she's as busy as ever. Still big into stickers; she managed to stick a Kroger one onto the kitchen floor this morning =/ Thanks for the funny cat ones, Nana. She's also enjoying toys that fit into other toys, like the classic red/blue ball with yellow shapes that pop into their slots. Of course, the shapes are all over the house... so are the puzzle pieces for her wooden puzzle. She loves books, too. It's 10:30 AM and we just finished Goodnight Moon, go figure. Now Oobi is on, so hopefully he'll keep her busy for a little while!

Dave & Meredith, thanks for commenting. Hehe! Guess I need to hurry up & write you back so you can sing the letter song! ;)

Have a great day, everyone. MAS, maybe we'll get to talk today!

Calling her agent ;) 

Can you just see her as a teenager? Eep! 

Maiiiiiiiil tiiiiiiime!

Those of you who watch "Blue's Clues" will know exactly what I'm talking about and those of you who don't are just going to have to believe me. Last night I brought the Christmas cards up from the basement & left them in their boxes on the living room floor. One of them was just a fancy cardboardish envelope w/ new cards inside. This morning, she makes a beeline for that one- it's green and decorated with teddy bears. Then she holds it in both hands and swings her arms back and forth JUST LIKE STEVE on "Blue's Clues." So I sing the mail time song he does: We just got a letter, we just got a letter, we just got a letter, wonder who it's from? She beams at me, pops open the velcro tab and waits for the rest: Oh look! It's a letter from our friends! Thought you'd get a kick out of it. Now you'll just have to watch the show to get a better idea! Hehe!

She then devoured six of Aunt Jemima's mini pancakes, half a yogurt, and an unfortunate piece of Chex that had fallen to the floor before I could catch her..... she's now stealing bites of my toast, too...and away she goes! Have a fun day!

PS Those spiffy new hot pink pants are from Mary Alice =D

Oh look! It's a letter from our friends! 

We just got a letter... 

Lazy Saturday

Care Bear is in the beginning stages of a cold, so we stayed put today for a change. We watched our usual lineup on Noggin, colored some (see picture), had one nap, read lots of books, and pushed many buttons on the TV and DVD player. Today's quote:

Val: She knows how to push your buttons.
Scott: Pushing my buttons pushes my buttons!

VCRs everywhere, beware!

Budding artist! Part of how we spent our lazy Saturday at home~ 

Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

Home safe & sound after a whirlwind roadtrip experience this week. We left last Saturday after Mike Severe's birthday party here (26 people in our house!) and headed east. We spent the night in Fremont, OH just because, then went to our old church, First Presbyterian Church, in Clarion, PA. We got to see Kirk & Vicki Orr, Judy Clark, Jean Smith, and Dan & Holly Stitt- some of our closest Clarion buddies. We really missed the Larimers, Skaradas, and the Whitlings, though! Maybe next time!

We headed to Butler after lunch w/ Kirk & Vicki at Eat 'N Park. We spent Sunday and Monday nights there and got to see both my parents, Scott's mom, my grandparents, and Andrew & Megan. What a busy time! We tried to take care of mom after her recent hysterectomy, but there's just no keeping her down ;)

We got to sleep in our own bed Tuesday night and then headed to La Crosse, Wisconsin Wednesday morning. Scott had some stuff to do at a brewery there, again. The highlights were dinner and breakfast with another OI guy, Dave Wentt. He really got a kick out of Carrie, having three young boys at home. She even kissed him on the cheek when we parted ways Thursday morning. Got home, bathed her, and tucked her in by about 9 last night. Whew! Always nice to be home!

Carrie got a box of clothes from Mary Alice today "just because" and she had a wonderful time with the packaging and the stickers MAS had put on and in the box. Very cute Old Navy stuff! So now there are multi colored packing materials all over the house and she has an 18-24 month sticker across her chest. Hehe!

I do have more pictures, but can't remember how to upload them. Once I do, they'll be up and ready for viewing. Hope everyone is doing well! Have a spiffy weekend! Off to Kroger's....

She cracked up the Bob Evans staff... 

We had a small Cheerio mishap in the car... 

Her first Burger King crown- definitely the queen! 

Pancakes, revisited. These ones are from Bob Evans! 

Pancakes

It's another beautiful day! We started the day off with Aunt Jemima's mini pancakes... she ate FIVE of them and then some banana, too. We skipped the morning nap to play outside after Blue's Clues and then had lunch with Dada. Most of lunch ended up on the floor- she was just too tired. Might head to Ottawa for my haircut after her nap and a snack. She's enjoying watching bugs now- flopped right down on her tummy in the driveway to watch a Daddy Longlegs. We also rescued the beetle (who's been entertaining us with his travels for two days) from inside and put him outside, first carrying him around in the Dixie Cup and offering him to the mailman. That's the excitement around here! Have a wonderful Over the Hump day!

Tall, skinny kid! 

Playing with the wooden people at the dr's office before her shots... 

Dum dum dum....doctor's visit

Today was Carrie's 18 month birthday and checkup. She got 5 shots in her thighs: flu, polio, DTP, Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae Type b), and pneumococcal conjugate. She was not a happy camper, though she was very brave and we covered the bandaids with stickers immediately afterwards. She also managed to pinch her right thumb on a toy hard enough to tear off a flap of skin, so we had to get some "lotion" (bactroban cream) and yet another bandaid. Kids! She's 30.5 inches tall and they said she was 19 pounds. Dr. San Gabriel recommended giving her denser foods and she said yogurt, specifically. Carrie has that all the time! This kid is just going to be tall and skinny. And she loves waffles with syrup. The good news is she said to try her with peanut butter, something her old pediatrician recommended we not try until Carrie was 3 due to possible allergies. Yippie! I think we'll start peanut butter today ;) She said ears looked great and that developmentally she's doing fine (something we all knew, but hey, always nice to hear!)

I really wish doctors would make house calls & observe for at least half an hour so they could see the kid in his/her environment and what the kid actually knows. Carrie, who is rarely shy, GETS shy with the doctor and wouldn't answer any of her usual questions that she can't wait to share. I asked "how does a doggie go?" and she ALWAYS says, "woof woof"---wouldn't do it for the doctor. So I asked, "okay, how does a fishie go?" to which she says her "puh puh puh"---wouldn't do that either. Looked at everything BUT me or the doctor. As soon as Dr. San Gabriel leaves, I ask her where her eyes are and she points to the poster with all the eye ailments. Stinker!!!!!!!

Here are some pre-shot photos... really is a much kid-friendlier atmosphere than her old doctor's office. That's the run-down! Now you're all up to date =) Have a super week!

Udderly ridiculous

Hehe, happy Saturday morning! There are new pictures from Halloween for all y'all now. We hope you get a kick out of our cow... we sure had a wonderful first Trick or Treating experience. Looking forward to comments- remember that you can reply right there on the site by clicking the comment link =) That way everyone can see what you think! Have a terrific weekend!

Gourds! 

Dada's camping chair sure is fun! 

Cow out to pasture 

All my loot! 

This hungry cow likes pot pies! 

Mama's on candy duty