Freeze Frame

Yes we make Nate do things purely for our entertainment.... so are we bad parents? Ha. Seriously, this kid is going to be the class clown because as soon as he finds something that we laugh at him for doing, he will do it over and over again. This time he had a little encouragement because I wanted to video it, but normally he just busts these random things out when we aren't giving him enough attention. It is hard to tell what he is doing that we are laughing at on the video. He does this thing where it is as if I yell "freeze!" He holds completely still except his hands shake a little because he is tensing them so much! His face is the best, don't you think?

*Let it snow*

We took Nate sledding for the first time this week when we actually got a little snow instead of all the ice we have had lately. We can't wait until dad is done with finals to go on some real hills. Nate's sled has a seatbelt which is the only way we could get him to stay sitting! He loved playing in the snow and didn't want to come in!

Sweet Sugar Baby!

Tonight was the last hoorah with my sweet friend Carly Schultz as they are moving in a few short weeks. Carly, I love you dearly and a part of my heart will go with you to DM.... I know you are dying right now seeing this picture, but this is how I will always see you... plus a diet dr. pepper! I always laugh the hardest around you, you are so fun! You have such a great way of looking at life, and then comentating on it, that I will truly miss. I know I can trust you to tell me the honest truth- for better or for worse. You are a great garage sale shopping buddy! You have fabulous taste and always look so great- I am forever stealing fashion tips from you, or new ways to do my hair. You look cuter in sweats and a pony tail than any woman has the right to. I will always remember going to The Holiday last Christmas break with you when you were SO pregnant with Laney and laughing and crying... and being the only ones in the theater- just like it should be! You finally caved and read Twilight! You are so laid back and up for anything- a great friend to have because you are always willing to come along with me to CR or the outlets or just up to the mall. There are so many things that I am going to miss about you, so many things we all are going to miss. Our group dynamic just won't be the same with out you! Good thing you are only going a few hours away! I am so proud of you for starting your own business. I know this is the best thing for your family, but you are sure going to be missed! Love you!

Carly's Bday in April at HuHot
I seriously look like I'm 12.. okay maybe 13

Last night
Carly, I really hope this isn't how you remember me!

Sometimes it's good to be bad...

This afternoon Nate was really missing Chris since he is already locked himself away studying for finals. We were sitting around playing with blocks and listening to Christmas music when he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. When we were in the kitchen he told me to pick him up. When I had picked him up he told me to open the freezer. When I opened the freezer he said, "ice cream!" I was so surprised he knew where the ice cream was that I pulled it out and handed it to him. He sat down on the kitchen floor and took off the lid. I figured out his plan, so I pulled out two spoons- a toddler size for Nate and a normal one for me. We ate ice cream for a couple of minutes, Nate saying "dinky" aka "thank you" after every few bites, then he noticed my spoon was bigger! He convinced me to trade, which followed with a big grin and another "dinky". When he had had enough he stood up and said, "ta ta" which means "tubby time" in our house. I thought he must want to get warmed up after eating icecream. We went up and he played in the tub for a while, then he said "gooks" aka books. So we went into his room, jammified him, and read books for about 30 min. Then he got off my lap, went to his crib and yelled "ginky" aka binky. Then it dawned on me- Nate thought ice cream was his dinner! After dinner each night he takes a tub, then we read books, then he goes to bed. He assumed ice cream was his dinner, and then walked me through his bedtime routine! I laughed because it was only 5:30! There was no way I was going to let him go down this early! I convinced him to come downstairs and play with his farm and wait for dad to get home from school. I was also able to get some "real" dinner into that cute little belly. He ate a lot of lasagna thank goodness! Anyway, so I felt like a bad mom for letting my son eat ice cream for dinner.... but it felt so good to sit on the kitchen floor and eat ice cream straight from the tub.

Dancing King

Here are Nate's sweet dance moves. Even when we are in the mall, at the grocery store, in the car, or at a friend's house he busts out these killer moves- whenever he hears music.

Anytime, anywhere.

BEDHEAD

1. The condition of having unkempt hair, generally as a result of having just woken up from sleep.

Why does every "celebrity" have to make an ablum?

And here is the song "leaked" out accidentally that Spencer raps on. He starts rapping at the 2 min 20 sec. mark. Enjoy!

i HEART nancy kirk!

My sweet friend Nancy Kirk is moving all too soon. I remember the first time I met her she dropped Abby off in my nursery at church. We found out we lived by eachother, and started bbq-ing almost every night and then the guys would play wiffleball. I loved spending time with her, she just makes me feel so happy! She is such a sincere, loyal, sweet friend and will be very missed. Love you Nancy!

If you are going to be in the area, we are having a "Nancy Party" Saturday night at my place after 8pm. We are going to enjoy chocolate fondue and good friends, and most importantly, enjoy our last girls night with Nacy! p.s. YES, YOU CAN COME LATE! I HAVE HAD MANY OF YOU EMAIL ME ABOUT COMING LATE BECAUSE YOU NEED TO PUT KIDS DOWN- OF COURSE! WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU!

Dinner tonight

I love being able to see Nate try a new food for the first time. Tonight was spaghetti. He typically doesn't like noodles or slimey foods-but he decided to give it a try! Love this kid! Other news from the ranch, I have agreed to keep the long hair until Christmas per request of my husband, but look for short hair in posts come January. Also, I forgot to post that some old lady gave Nate Christmas candy while trick-or-treating... and they weren't selling it in stores yet... gag! Final news, Chris and I watched Transformers last week (first time for me,but not for him) and I 'gasp' really liked it! I was checking my email during the beginning, so I missed some stuff and need to go back and watch it again. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. I am sure your husbands would be willing to watch it with you! I love my movie-obsessed husband!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Chris was able to come home from school early and hang out before we took Nate trick or treating which was the best treat of all! We went to an afternoon Halloween party hosted by some of our neighbors. Nate thought it was so fun (again) to see all of his buddies dressed up. They all kept trying to pull on each others costumes! Nate was pulling Hal's butterfly wigs and Laney was pulling on Nate's duck bill! We love that we live so close to some many friends! After the party we hung out with dad and then trick or treated "The Hamptons" , attempted to go to a bday party- but went to the wrong location! then went with the Ross' and trick or treated Chris' parents neighborhood where there was this AMAZING pirate ship ( I will have to get a picture from Sarah) and Halloween display in one yard! Amazing! P.S. the one of Nate in the yellow is Nate eat the candy out of the popcorn cake Sarah made.He ate every last piece of candy and left only the popcorn and nuts!

Trunk or Treat Fun

We had so much fun at our ward's Trunk or Treat on Saturday. It was nice and warm and Nate wore his costume the entire time! Gasp! Needless to say I was shocked! Nate thought it was so funny to see his friends all dressed up, especially girlfriend Hallie (or as Nate calls her Hayee) We just love that cute little bug! And yes, Nate does have a different sucker in every picture... it's Halloween, why not let the kid go nuts! I swear for 3 days all I have heard is "cucka, cucka" begging for another dang sucker! I guess it is a nice break from him begging for the car keys!

Well worth it!

Today Nate and I went to surprise Chris at school in his carrel (private study desk) but when we got there he wasn't there! I was kinda glad because I wanted to put up pictures of Nate and one that he colored "for dad". Right when we finished our decorating Chris called and said he was out front so we met up with him. Back story- Nate knows that the law school and Chris go together so when we parked out front (in 15 min parking) he started to say "dadadadadada". So I planned to leave after we decorated the carrel, but Nate knew dad was there somewhere. When we did find Chris, I didn't have the heart to make him leave as he was so excited. We ended up staying for a while and playing out on the front yard.... completely forgetting that I parked in 15 min parking.... so I got a ticket! But I decided it was worth it. If someone said to me, you can go see Chris right now and he can play with Nate for a while, for$15 I would do it! So "ha" University of Iowa parking patrol! I will take that ticket gladly!

My Little Pumpkin!

Typically I love fall.... but I am having a hard time finding fall this year! We went to the pumkin farm on Friday thinking it would be really busy Saturday and it was so cold! Then Saturday was shorts weather! Oh well... we still had a great time! Nate loved carrying his pumpkin around that he picked out himself- I think it was the first pumkin he tried to pick up that he could actually lift off the ground. We just love having Grandma Trudy near by to share all these memories with. I forgot my camera- I have not been taking it anywhere hence lack of blog posts lately- so these were taken with Trudy's cell phone. I am surprised how well they turned out! Especially since it was really hard to see what I was taking a picture of since the screen is so small. I love the one of Chris and Nate up above. Check out that dimple! I hope he never loses it!

My latest love

I finally joined you all and read the Twlight series (thanks for the books Kim and Sarah). I have to tell you, I had to make myself go to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. I couldn't put them down- I finished each book in about a day and couldn't wait for the next one. So, I want to know all of you who have read them, Stephanie Meyer said that she is going to write this story in another point of view, a parallel series. Since the last chapter was written in Jacob's p.o.v. do you think that the next series will follow him? I am sorry but gag. No thanks. Who would you want the series to follow? I know the book due out next fall- Breaking Dawn will finish the Twilight series. I think/hope that will still be in Bella's p.o.v. and I know she wrote Midnight Sun from Edward's p.o.v. but she isn't going to write more than that book... I thought.

Family Love

10 of the people in this picture ran the marathon. For 2 of my uncles it was their 10th year doing so. My mom is in the middle in red, Erica is behind my mom to the right of her in blue and I am to the left of her in navy. My mom had t-shirts made (the baby blue ones that say OTTCREW on them that Gma Jo has on to the left). All of the non-runners were just there to cheer us in. I just have to say I love my family. If it wasn't for them, I would have never done it. I had never thought about running a marathon until my mom ran it last year. I am so glad that my SIL Erica and cousin Annie (next to my mom on the right) were there to take the plunge for the first time. It helped not being the only first timer! It was such an amazing experience, and to share it with so many family members was priceless. Love you! See you again in 2009!

26.2 Miles of Memories

We returned from our marathon trip to Utah and I am feeling a bit lost. For the last few months I have thought about the marathon every day... and now it's over! A bit sad.... It was a great first marathon. I originally was going to go for my Boston Qualifying time of 3:40, but after I got sick a few weeks out from the marathon and was unable to run for 10 days, I knew that I needed to reevaluate things and set my goal on 4hrs. I did it! I came in just under 4. I broke the cardinal rule of running and used up a lot of energy early on- I didn't realize I was doing this, I felt like I was running my typical speed, but I was passing a lot of people... around mile 18 I ran out of gas, and they all passed me! I guess my adrenalin ran out! I didn't take my gu/ sport beans- they just made me feel sick so I only took 1/2 pack of sport beans, which probably wasn't the best for my energy level.... I can at least say that I have learned a lot for my next marathon. Yes, you read correctly, I do plan to run another one. I can't help it, it is really tempting to improve my time because I know I could easily. My next marathon I want to go all the way- try to train in all aspects, not just running. I want to eat right (sorry girls, no more fondue nights at my house right before the marathon), lift so weights, do crunches, etc. It is really nice to have a goal, to have a dream.




HIGHLIGHTS:



-Laying in bed with Erica (my SIL who also ran) the night before giggling because we were so excited
- Getting completely dressed in our gear the night before with Erica and then running up to my aunt, uncle and mom's room fully dressed to run the marathon with gloves and all- it gave everyone who saw a good laugh. We said we were going to sleep in it (photo to come!)
-The 40 min bus ride out of the city to the starting spot..... you can feel the excitement in the air
-the pre-race hang out by the bonfires and portapotties... being there with my mom, aunts and uncles, cousins and SIL
-starting the race with Erica and running the first few miles with her then hugging goodbye while running!
-reading all of the signs along the way: THERE WAS ONE SIGN THAT SAID "DON'T FORGET TO DRAFT. WHERE IS KEVIN?" it was at mile 22 I think, and if I could have laughed, I would have... I think I tried to laugh....
-reading all the signs that said, "mom you're my hero" written by little kids
- giving high-fives to all the little kids that stand next to the side of the road and feeling like a rock star
-reaching the top of Veo (very long- couple miles- hill)
-running past my family as they cheered and I got to see Nate and know he was okay
-crossing the finish line.... unforgettably overwhelming, emotional moment.
- being there to cheer on the rest of my family


My cousins took a bunch of photos, but I only took one. It is of me and Erica right after she finished. She is even gorgeous right after running for 4+ hrs! What a stinker! I love you Erica! Thanks for all the memories.

Love this baby

I know this is not the most flattering picture of my son, but it makes me laugh so hard. This was taken in his car seat when he was a couple of months old when we were driving back to IC from visiting my family in Waterloo. I love it when you catch a moment on photo......
I had to make a post about something because my husband informed me that he checks our blog regularly and I have been "slacking" in our family blogging duties. What's my excuse? I guess I just haven't been taking very many pictures lately. I will try to get back into it.....

I HEART Jane Austen

I have to admit that every time I watch a Jane Austen movie or finish reading one of her books, I wish that I lived during that time. To go to balls, and wear beautiful dresses and be romanced in an old fashioned way! Her work has a way of wrenching my heart, like- oh just run away together! I want her characters to be together and be happy sooo badly! It always seems so clear after I finish that I am so lucky to be with a man that I am so in love with and that is really all I need in life. Becoming Jane (thanks for coming with me girls- p.s. it WAS rated PG, so I don't know what to say about the nudity!) anyway, Becoming Jane has me on a J.A. kick- so I am going to be watching all of her book-based movies in the next couple of weeks. I think my MIL has them all- if you are interested, you know where to find me. And, of course, I can't resist reading Pride and Prejudice again!I just have to say, I heart Jane Austen.

Okay, if you have seen this movie- did it not get your heart racing?! Just kiss her!

The turtle and the duck

Today Nate and I went to the mall to get a Halloween costume. I was at the register about the buy a turtle costume (his namesake) when Nate spotted what he thought was a duck costume. He got so excited. He started to quack and quack and quack. I thought- this is silly. He doesn't even know what a turtle is! So I pulled the baby chick aka the duck costume and handed it to him and he smiled gleefully. When we got home I put it on him to make sure it would fit. He didn't love the costume very much any more. He kept trying to take the hat off. How do you get your kids to wear their costumes? I am looking for orange sweat pants and a yellow turtleneck to go underneath. If anyone knows where I can get some please let me know!

Milwhat?

I have had a lot of questions as to what is in Milwaukee, where is it, etc. Here is a little info to entice you to visit :)

Milwaukee is home of:
the NLB's Milwaukee Brewers (baseball)
the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks
Harley Davidson, Miller Brewing, Northwestern Mutual, and Kohls
has a metro population of 1.5 million
is in WISCONSIN!
is located 90 miles north of Chicago
is on lake Michigan
has the average winter temp of 21 degrees and 72 in the summer
is home of the international clown hall of fame - sweet!
has a great zoo and lots of museums
and over 70 golf courses!

I have just started my research of Milwaukee, so I will really be able to tell you about Milwaukee in the spring before we move, but I hope this gives you a better idea of where we are headed!

Milwaukee-ians

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Milwaukee this weekend for interviews for Chris. While he was "working" Nate and I played and found out that WE LOVE MILWAUKEE! Which is great since Chris has accepted an offer from his #1 pick Quarles and Brady in Milwaukee. At the end of his interview on Friday they offered him a position as a summer associate for Summer 2008. He accepted today and we couldn't be happier! We are so proud of Chris for all of his hard work and for going after what he wants! Nate and I had a fun time running around downtown. Above is Nate outside of the Mil. Art Museum which is right on Lake Michigan (directly to the right). Below are pictures and their awesome children's museum and the Mil. Public Museum, lunch at a yummy pizza cafe (we went for pizza without Chris, can you believe it?), and goofing around in the hotel.

We're still here....barely!

I know many people think we are out of town, or we moved, or we just don't want to be your friend anymore :) but none are true! We have just been cut off from the outside world for the last couple of days. I got the flu bug this weekend and was lying around helplessly until this morning. During that time, Nate managed to upload a virus onto our computer, lock my cellphone with a code only know to him and lose our only car key (which we later found in the trash). So Chris spent all night last night fixing the computer and this is the first time in days I have had internet access and I will return cellphone messages sometime today after I go into Verizon to get that one taken care off. Sometimes I am glad that things all happen at once because it makes it easier to handle- for example. This morning I was giving Nate a bath and Chris was still asleep (up all night fixing computer and studying) when all the sudden I see a little poo nugget- no biggie- I pick it up with some tp and flush it in the toilet. I few seconds later there is a lot, I mean a lot of poo in the tub. Nate luckily had not seen it at that point and I start yelling for Chris and pound on the wall that the bathroom shares with our bedroom. He comes in, grabs Nate, cleans Nate up while I start draining the tub and cleaning it up. While Nate waits for me to clean up so he can take another tub he decided to eat a deodorant stick. Yuck. So then we are cleaning that up. We get Nate clean, again. Chris showers and let's Nate back in the bathroom while he is getting ready for school (Nate is in love with Chris and always wants to be in the same room as him) and while they are in the bathroom together Nate throws Chris's cellphone in the toilet- down goes our only remaining way to call long distance since as said before my phone is out- he yells for me to come so I grab Nate, wash his hands and take him down stairs and fall down the stairs- catching myself enough so Nate doesn't get hurt, but skinning my elbow and hip. Now remember this all happened within 30 minutes. Since it all just happened at once, Chris and I couldn't help but just sit and laugh! What next?! He's lucky he's so stinkin' cute!

Happy Labor Day!

Alright, so I am a little behind on the times. I just love this picture of Nate though. He LOVES the Ross's Coupe and every time we go get the mail he stops and plays with it (Sarah, if it is ever missing, check my house :o) He spent almost the entire bbq on Monday night playing in it- which was GREAT because I actually got to eat my food instead of feeding it to him, or giving up eating because he is climbing all over me and making it impossible to eat. I love this picture because you can almost hear him making his engine noise- the "vroooom" noise. Check out that dimple! What a cute little bug! We just love him!

Obsession #2

If any of you have spent any time with Nate you know that his other passion in life is water, also known as twawa in our house. If he even gets a glimps of a faucet he goes nuts and insists on me holding him up so that he can play in the water. This is a picture of him trying to get a drink out of the sink while he was playing in it. What a little nugget (word from Cheree- love ya!) Hopefully I will post more after our Labor Day festivities... sorry for lack of posts, we have been so busy playing while it is still nice out! p.s. if you haven't read Sarah Ross's blog today you have to read it! Read the first couple of comments that "Sarah" wrote in the comment box about"Breath Savers" .Sorry Sarah, but I enjoyed it soooo much, I want others to feel that same happiness:)

Welcome 1Ls

Jamie Ortega and I hosted a Law Wives Luncheon today. It was a lot of fun. We were forecasted rain, but we just got clouds which was a nice blessing to keep it cool enough. Gma Trudy took Nate so that I could actually be a host. It was so nice to think with my whole brain instead of 1/2 on watching Nate and 1/2 trying to do whatever! We have 6 new 1L wives! This has to be a record! We welcomed Kim Stoddard, Nichole Bartholomew, Andrea Hochhalter, Ashley Justensen, Chanell Nielson, and Heidi Miller- who I actually grew up with in the Cedar Falls ward! Thanks for coming ladies. I look forward to pie shakes at Hamburg!






WHEN I SAID OBSESSED.......






I MEANT IT! This was Nate this morning when we went outside while waiting for naptime. He kept trying to climb on top of the car. He would pull and pull on the handle. We've created a monster!

Schools out forever...

Yesterday I took Chris to his first day of class as a 2L I told him when we left the house that I wanted to take a picture of him in front of the law school before he went in (thanks for the idea Tricia) and he said "no way". I was going to do it anyway, but my camera died right when I turned it on! So I charged it all day and when I went to pick him up from school that night I pulled up and snapped this through the car window while he was walking to the car. He saw the camera immediately and tried to duck from view but I was too quick! He asked what the big deal was... and I guess I have transferred my excitement about first days of school to him. I would always get really excited for the first day of school each year- even in college. New teachers, new class mates, new subjects, new books- loved it all. It is strange to not have that to look forward to and the end of each summer, but I guess I will just get really excited for Chris and Nate!

New Obsession

Nate is obsessed with playing in the car! When we were in Utah at all of the Foster Wedding festivities we would often go out to the rental car and just let Nate "drive". We spent a lot of time just sitting in the car while he figured out how to turn on the blinkers, the hazard lights, the horn, etc. Since we have been back from Utah, Nate is obsessed with cars. Anytime he sees a car on tv, in a book, anywhere he says "Ca, Ca, Ca" over and over again. You can only imagine how excited he gets when we are walking through the parking lot! Anyway, we were over at Chris's parents for Sunday dinner and Nate found Gma Trudy's car keys and from that moment on he spent the rest of the time trying to get someone to take him out to the car. He even pulled on Gma Trudy's apron trying to get her to come. Here he is seeing if anyone is going to follow him and the 2nd one he is waiting at the door in the laundry room that enters the garage. He would bang on the door and yell "Ca". It will be interesting to see how long this lasts! P.S. He is not wearing a dress- he soaked his clothes while playing in the sink earlier and here he is wearing a t-shirt of Chris's 19yr old sister Dazi.

Getting Better

68%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Well, earlier this summer I took this test and I was in the 70's... I guess I am getting better from my blog addiction. I will admit, it is very addicting. I actually thought that I was worse than this. I better not let Chris see this or he will try to have an "intervention".

p.s. for those who missed out on Steve & Barry's... we are going again next week for round 2 because so many people wanted to go but couldn't go yesterday.

Shopping Anyone?

Some of us are heading up to CR to go to Steve and Barry's today. I know a couple of different people mentioned the next time I go, they want to go- so give me a call today if you want to go with us this afternoon.

Glad to be home

Nate was a real champ while we were in Chicago. It was the first time we have ever left him for more than a couple of hours, and ever over night. I think we were more anxious than he was. When we finally did get home, we walked into Grandma Trudy's and he looked up at us, and turned right back to what he was playing with! Chris was a little hurt that Nate didn't run to him and wrap his arms around him and yell "daddy!" I was glad that he had such a good time that he didn't want to leave Thanks Gma Trudy! We had a good time lounging around the house today and, of course, watching Toy Story AGAIN (I got Nate a Jessie doll and Bullseye at the Disney Store on the Magnificent Mile which he played with all day). And yes, more playing with the IPOD.