Colin's (soon to be) new wheels

Today Colin got to "test drive" a couple wheelchairs.  It will be ordered in the next week or two and we will hopefully have his very own chair in less than 2 months.  If you would've told me last summer that I would be this excited that my son is getting a wheelchair I would've thought you were crazy, but time does heal and we are ecstatic for this - our son will finally get to "walk".  This morning was so much fun.  He was so happy and once he figures out that this will be his indepedence he will be even happier.  How perfect that one of his favorite things to do is "go fast"

This is what it will look like (even the yellow) - it is so tiny and adorable.  But deceivingly heavy!



And here is a little clip of him driving - this was his first time in this chair (he spent a lot of time in a different model) and he found the horn right away - I think we might have to shut that off somehow!.

Superhero

We are now in the presence of a superhero at our house. Meet...Batman with his blanket cape and all. So glad we have him around to protect us!  I don't think we have to worry about his imagination :)

Colin turns TWO!

Our Colin turned TWO!! Can't believe it. To celebrate we took him fishing (which would've been a lot more fun without the wind) and then had a party at our house with family, including ALL 6 of his Grandma's, Grandpa's, Great-grandpa Cecil and his aunt's and uncles -minus Danny :(. He got spoiled of course, but most importantly he had SO much fun. He was so wound up he wouldn't go to sleep - he was keeping Eli up! That NEVER happens.

I went out on a limb and made his cake for him. Erin and Zoey came over to on Friday to help - we had a lot of fun and the end product turned out really well.

A few pics....

The boys trying their best to get a bite!







He was so excited when we were singing him Happy Birthday



More brotherly love - can't you tell how much Colin loves it!



New tricycle - big hit!

Eli trying to give poor Aiden a ride in the firetruck

 And here is the extent of Eli and Zoey's help with decorating the cake...by eating an entire bowl of frosting and wearing half of it!

Praying and hoping for a healthy and great year for our little Colin - and many more after that!  What a blessing he is.



New Toy

Oh the fun you can have in a box! Mommy got a new printer and the boys got a new toy. This printer box provided hours of entertainment. Sometimes the simplest things in life, can bring the greatest joy and kids show us that more than anyone.

Massey Ferguson

Growing up it was the farm equipment of choice for the Knuth family was John Deere - this was drilled into our heads - green is better. My brothers didn't even own one red toy tractor. Funny how some things change.....my boys are now getting Massy Ferguson drilled into their heads (again, very much adapting to their surroundings!) I actually heard Eli arguing with someone this weekend that Massy Ferguson was better...wow...

This resulted in a new hat in our house - just thought these pictures were funny -

Also, some kid quotes to share

• We were at a restaurant in Iowa City the other night - Travis, the boys and I and Kayla. Colin was being Mr. Social and saying goodbye to everyone at the tables around us as they were leaving. One guy was putting his coat and Colin looks up at him and says, "bye" in his sweet little voice. The guy simply responded "bye". Eli looks at Kayla and says, "Wow, what a nice guy." Yeah Eli he was a nice guy. He says again, "he was a really nice guy." The table next to us errupted.
• Grandma Cathy just got a new car a couple weeks ago. Eli, inquiring as he does with everything said, "Grandma, why did you get a new car?". She says, "I don't know, I guess because Grandpa decided it was time for me to get a different car so he bought one for me. He responds, "Well, did he put it in a box?"

Weekend

What a great weekend we had - Danny and Casey were home from Colorado so we spent a lot of time with them.  Saturday we had a girls outing to Dubuque with a yummy lunch and little shopping.  Saturday night the adults went out for dinner (no little boys) - it was delicious and very fun.  Sunday we took an attempt at a new family picture.  Since we haven't had one since our wedding (5 1/2 years ago) we thought it was time, there has been just a couple additions to the family since then :)

These two have also not had a picture since our wedding - still not sure they look old enough to be grandparents :)

Colin also experienced his first crush this weekend....he has eyes for Casey.  He wanted to be sitting with her all the time and he kept looking up at her and batting his eyes.  Didn't make a peep the whole time and if you've been around Colin lately you know that is NOT the norm - he doesn't stop talking!  It was kind of nice...he wanted to sit with somebody besides mom!  Look at how peaceful his face is....

And Eli got to play rough with his uncle Danny.  Of course Danny had a bloody nose before they were done.

And Grandma Jayne got some lovein' on Colin in -

Sunday night we celebrated Grandpa Mark's birthday with another yummy meal and some cake and ice cream.  (Yes...it seems that all we did this weekend was eat!).  Of course I didn't get the camera out (ugh).  The boys were so excited to help Grandpa blow out all of his candles. 

Grandma Jayne is heading in today to start her immunotherapy treatment.  It's going to be a long couple of weeks for her and all of us but we are praying hard for her strength and that this treatment works well so we can get her back healthy very soon!  Love you Grandma Jayne!

Farming?!

Since receiving numerous farm toys for Christmas, our boys are VERY into farming.  Farm toys have now become the MOST played with toys in our household (and that includes farm puzzles for Colin!).  They must be tuning into their surroundings with life here in Iowa - no longer city slickers?!

Colin sleeps with his farm animals at ALL times - they are ALMOST as special as puppy these days.

Eli spends a lot of time on the floor playing with his tractors and setting up his barns.

Eli also spent an afternoon with Grandpa Mark "farmering".  After just one afternoon he reminds me regularly that he is "just a workin-boy" and/or a "farmboy" (words straight from his mouth).  Needless to say, he had a GREAT afternoon with Grandpa.  The only downfall...his snow boots smelled like pig poop for school the next day - poor Miss Lisa!  After he had so much fun with Grandpa Mark, he was spoiled by Grandma Cathy and is now the proud new owner of his new "workin' coat" and "workin' pants" (i.e., carhartts) - oh and he got some new boots too!  He's all set for another day with Grandpa Mark - or really whoever will take him!

Eli's First Day of Preschool

Today our little boy went to preschool for the first time.  He is still only three, but it's really hard to believe he is in SCHOOL!  You can tell by the look on his face though how excited he was.  It was a VERY exciting day in our house. 

All ready to go (except for coat and hat)!



Even Colin was excited - maybe because it meant some peace and quiet for him?!

When I picked him up he said "Mom, I had a great day at school!"  He can't wait to go back tomorrow.  I think I'll enjoy him liking school as long as I can!

Since Our Last Post

Since the last post about 6 months ago (I know...way to long). We have had just a few things go on.  Here is a nice long post....
AUGUST
Eli was potty trained. His reward...a new bike!


We went on our first official family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. We had an absolute BLAST!!! Even more fun than we anticipated. We got a fantastic cabin where the Schlemme, McCarthy, McAllister, and Manternach families all got to stay under one roof! It was a fantastic weekend.

The Mama's and their kiddos (round 2)



Can't get enough of these baby blues :)



Look at us, you would think there wasn't any sun involved in our vacation!
  Not the greatest family picture, but at least we're all together!



This about sums up how much fun we had!



 Labor Day Weekend - Grandpa Scott and Grandma Jayne came for a visit.  We had some fun at the Minnesota State Fair.  Food on a stick, drinks, some rides....



And 2 tired little boys!



 SEPTEMBER

We participated in our first SMA fundraiser - the Minnesota Chapter Families of SMA Walk 'n' Roll.  With the help of so many people, Team Colin raised over $5,000 - amazing!.  The support that we got from people from so many different places was so touching and truly inspiring.  There were a lot of emotions that day, but the biggest thing that Travis and I took away I think is that the kids were genuinely happy.  We left that day with a more positive outlook than negative so I would say...it was a success!

We celebrated Elijah's 3rd birthday on the 14th (and the 11th).  THE gift of the birthday was the Handy Manny tools and tool belt.  He was beyond excited and squealed every single tools name as he pulled it out of the box.  Aunt Kayla...you're such a good shopper....

OCTOBER
We had a fun weekend visit from the McCarthy clan. It was a GORGEOUS fall weekend so we visited a pumpkin patch.  Lunch, pony rides, apples, and of course..picked out our pumpkins!

The kids and the pumpkins they chose

We celebrated Halloween in our usual tradition.  Dinner with the Tetzlaff's and some Trick or Treating.  Eli and Jack really enjoyed it this year.  Every house...Eli "I'm trick or treatin', I want candy.  Oh and wait here comes Jack."  So cute.


Me and my favorite Elmo (in 2010 - Eli was Elmo in 2009 - see previous post)



Allison and her little princess

 

A very homeade Handy Manny (what other character is there?!)



The cutest little old man ever!



And..trying to take a picture of all 4 kids.  This is about right....of course Jack is smiling!

 October was also a month with a lot of decisions.  A random phone call in mid-October (actually the weekend the McCarthy's were in town) from Ohnward Bank in Cascade triggered us to make some very big decisions that resulted in a couple of months of chaos in our household.  At the end of October we decided to leave our home, good friends, and jobs in the Twin Cities and return to our roots.  Here we come Cascade Iowa - whoa!!!

That led to November and December, which pretty much consisted of packing up the house, completing house projects to get it ready to sell, many trips (by many different people) to haul all of our stuff, finding a place to live in Cascade, eating at our favorite places, spending as much time as possible with our friends.....

Some things fun, some not so fun.  The Knuth crew came to town for Thanksgiving so we had a big meal and then went to cheer on the Hawks against Minnesota on Saturday (rather not talk about that game!)

On Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend Travis officially moved from Richfield...to his parents ;)  Only temporarily of course.  The boys and I stayed for a couple more weeks.  The weekend between when Travis moved and me and boys moved we did a lot of driving.  Minneapolis to Cascade, Cascade to Chicago (and back), and then back to Minneapolis.  The driving...not exactly fun.  The weekend however made it worth it.  Went to Chicago for round 2 with the girls (Kelly, Laura, Erin, Jenny, and Kayla).  A little different tone than last year for a couple of reasons, but still a REALLY great time and so great to catch up with everyone. 

Me and the boys spent our last week very busy being social butterflies.  It was hard on them though being in an empty house withouth their dad.  We had a VERY larget meltdown at one point in which Eli cried (very heavily), "I want my bed, and my couches, and my toys, and I miss my daddy SO MUCH!"  While sad at the time, he got over it quickly and just called his Dad - Colin just relaxed and sucked his thumb in his usual fashion.

Thru the craziness, the boys still find time to relax

A very bad snowstorm (~2 ft of snow in two days..one for the record books) forced us to leave a day early.  So on December 10, we made our trek to Cascade for good (as residents anyway).  Lots of memories in this house...not easy to leave.  A new chapter begins for us.  However, we still own it so I guess we have a little getaway home?!



Yes..I borrowed the pic from our listing....



I was NOT good about pictures at Christmas this year..not really sure why.  This one of Colin is really the only good one I got.  The boys really enjoyed it this year.  Colin got excited about opening things and Eli had the perfect reaction for almost every gift.  For example, one of the first gifts he opened was a sweat suit.  He pulled it out and said "Awww - CUTE!".  He is loving all of his farm toys and Colin is very much enjoying his puzzles.

Unfortunately no picture of our new home.  Maybe in the spring?!  We are settling in well...still adjusting to life in Cascade, but really enjoying it.  We LOVE our new house, particularly the attached garage and the kitchen.  The boys absolutely love being so close to their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, and other friends.  Mom and Dad like the extra hands too :)

 

We ended the year by going out with some good friends on New Year's Eve.

Travis..you're so mysterious...

While 2010 held many challenges (some of which have only begun) and some sadness for us, we also had a lot of joy and have so much to be thankful for.  Our blog posts are only a fraction of the joy and blessings that we have..and looking back there are a lot of good memories that have been captured.  To a great 2011....