Oster Family Updates

October 27, 2010

2010-10-27T08:38:00.002-06:00

Woe! It's been almost exactly 2 years since I posted something on here! Time flies, doesn't it? Jonah is in Junior Kindergarten with Mrs. Michelena and Chase is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Zeller. They both like their teachers and Jonah likes to give Mrs. Michelena stickers for being good. Jonah goes to Sue's daycare after school and waits for me to get off work. Chase gets done with school later in the day and gets off the bus at home, where Nathan is waiting for him. Chase has many people at school who help him have a good day, and he's having a good year with only a few 'melt-downs'. That's a good thing.

Looking back at my posts here makes me want to start writing more. Hopefully I can try to do that, along with adding more pictures. Life gets so busy, sometimes it's difficult to keep up...

Our Fall Activities

2008-10-17T22:28:00.002-06:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here are some pictures of a few things we've done this Fall. Time has gone so fast this summer, I can't believe it's almost Halloween!

We went to Yellowstone a few weeks ago, and had alot of fun seeing the sights. The weather was GREAT, and we saw alot of Buffalo. No bears, though. I really wanted to see a bear. And I wanted to see the Morning Glory pool. I've never seen that, but by the time we got to Old Faithful it was a little after 3:00 and we had to wait until almost 4:00 to see it go off, and the walk to the Morning Glory pool was well over a mile long. Maybe next time....

Our beautiful little niece was born in August. We went to little Elliot Grace's baptism a few weeks ago. We had fun. We enjoyed Elliot's first trip to the zoo together. Oh, and her parents came, too. (haha) Funny isn't it? How parents take a backseat in the spotlight when a new baby comes? I don't think they mind. We're all very happy Elliot is here, and she's as healthy as they come. (Thank you God) She's very content, only crying when she's hungry. She's great.

We just got over our early Fall vomit-fest. I HATE those times. Jonah got sick last Thursday night, Chase followed it up Friday morning, and Nathan got it Sunday. Not the funnest. My brother's family all got it, too. The WHOLE family, all five of them. Poor guys. Poor ol' Elias got sick up on the mountain during hunting season. Elias and Chris had to drive off the mountain at 1:30 in the morning because Elias got sick in his sleeping bag. And for any of you who know Elias, you know that having to leave hunting camp was probably WAY worse than even being sick. He was ready to go back up the next day, but he was given another day at home to recover.

And for any of you who know OUR family. You've probably heard me talk about Chase's struggle with Sensory Defensiveness. Well, a couple weeks ago we met with an Occupational Therapist in Cody. He taught us a brushing technique that we've been using with Chase...5 times a day! There's alot of science (the OT says it's more of an Art than a Science, but there's alot of scientific terms used) that goes into how and why brushing Chase's skin will help with his sensory awareness. We're willing to try anything. So, we've been doing this brushing technique called the "Wilbarger Protocol" for anyone who's interested in looking it up. And we've been doing it for 2 weeks. His daycare providers think its a miracle. I tend to be cautious, but I think I can see a difference. His teachers at CRC have been telling me this week that he's doing very well. That's good news. Especially since I didn't tell them we started the brushing thing. (Kind of a test to see what people would say who DIDN'T know what we have been up to.) I hope and pray it works well for him.

A good, full day.

2008-06-23T00:07:00.007-06:00

Saturday morning we got up, got ready and drove to Lovell for their Lake Days. They were giving free boat rides at Horseshoe Bend, so we took advantage of that and hopped into a boat. Turns out the owner of the boat knows Dad, Mom and my cousin Todd, so that was a nice coincidence. Chase and Jonah had a blast and weren't nervous at all about their first ride in a boat. In fact, they were both way to gutsy, as far as their mother was concerned. Chase wanted to sit on the edge of the boat and hang his feet over in the water, and Jonah wanted to go to the back of the boat and inspect the motor. I said, "No!" to both.

This was our first catch of the day, a Croppy. They're pretty when they first come out of the water, but not-so-much later. And I had a hard time deciding what to do with them. I think we'll throw them back from now on...as long 2 little boys don't get too attached. Jonah is not unhappy in this picture...just the opposite in fact. When you tell him to smile and say, "Cheese!", that's what he looks like. Funny thing is, when you go back later and show him pictures like these, HE thinks he was crying!

Daddy and Jonah reeling in...nothing. Dang-it!

Chase and mom reeling in....nothing. They both got way too excited and started reeling in imagined things. Patience is learned from situations like this...i hope.

Nothing....

We decided finally to put the fish we DID catch in a cooler because neither of them could stay away from them when we put them on a stringer and threw them back into the lake. They kept yanking on the stringer and bringing the fish back up, then throwing it out again. I started feeling sorry for the fish!

Class reunion

2008-06-22T23:05:00.003-06:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

We had a great time at our reunion. We started on Friday with dinner at Lisa's restaurant, then moved to the Smokehouse. I finally made it home at 3:00 a.m.!! And I wasn't the last one there! There were still a few of my classmates who stayed up later than that. Nathan was impressed. When I got home, he was sleeping with both of the kids in our bed. Ahh, it adds character. The next day we met up again for a picnic in the park. That was fun, too. More laid back, and people brought their kids which was fun to see. I had planned to try to make it to the street dance later that night, but I when I put Jonah to bed, I laid down with him and never got up. I slept in his room all night, which he didn't mind at all. I was too tired and sunburned to gather the energy to make it out one more night. I missed seeing everyone and saying goodbye, though. It was a fun time. Fun enough, in fact, that everyone wants to try for another reunion in 5 years instead of waiting the usual 10.

Visiting Grandpa

2008-06-10T00:21:00.008-06:00

Last weekend we went to visit Chase and Jonah's Grandpa on the farm in South Dakota. We were wondering how the weekend was going to turn out since it rained the entire way from Greybull to Eureka, SD. We stayed the night at a hotel in Spearfish on Wednesday. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool. We bought them floaties and noodles for the pool and we almost couldn't get them out at 11:00 p.m. to go to bed!

If Jonah had his way, he would have lived on Grandpa's tractors for the whole visit! He couldn't get enough.

Chase liked his turns, too, but didn't have the drive that Jonah did. Although, he looks pretty darned serious about his ride in this picture.

When Jonah wasn't on one of the tractor's, or 4-wheeler's, or lawnmowers, this is what he looked like...poor guy.

Nathan, Chase, Jonah and I went on a 4-wheeler/3-wheeler ride to the lake that's by their house. While we were throwing rocks in the water, watching the birds and contemplating the possibility of a developing a recreation area...some storm clouds came up and started spitting rain on us. We hurried back home before it got really bad and I was able to take some cool cloud pics.

I love storms on the farm in South Dakota.

After the rain, and the sunset reflecting on the clouds. Real colors, too! No doctoring!

Grandpa's birthday cake, and of course Chase and Jonah had to help blow out the candles!

Huh? Speak up, I can't hear you!

2008-06-02T23:54:00.002-06:00

Nostalgic, Sentimental, Excited, Anxious, a little Sad.....AND OLD!!!!

Friday the 13th (nice, huh?) will mark the first day of my 20-YEAR class reunion. Holy COW!!! I can't believe it's really been that long. I've been lamenting some gray hairs I've been spotting on my head, so last Friday I went to the beauty shop and got 'Frosted' with blonde and red. We don't use the term 'Frosted' anymore. That was what you did to your hair in the '80's. Now you get 'foils,' 'highlights' and 'lowlights.' Whatever...

Hopefully at the 20-year reunion we're still young enough to leave out of the conversation words like: Bowels, Fiber, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Lumbago (whatever that is), polyps and "hitch-in-my-gitalong."

I AM really excited to see the Class of '88 from Greybull, Wyoming. How they've all grown up, gotten older, wiser, more mature, etc.

There's a phrase from the John Lennon song "Beautiful Boy" that says, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's not-so-good. I'm looking forward to seeing how life has shaped my classmates....

Family visit, and other things...

2008-06-02T22:49:00.009-06:00

Nathan's cousin Mike and his family visited us from Minnesota on Saturday evening. It was fun to have them come to our house. We made up a bunch of shish kabobs on the grill and sat around outside shooting the breeze for a good 3 hours. Ours was one of the first stops of many Mike & fam. will be making the next 2-3 weeks. On Sunday they headed for Yellowstone, then will go visit their Aunt Judy in Idaho, then on to Washington to see more family, back through Montana and then home. They're going to put on alot of miles, but it sounds like a fun vacation! Jonah fell in love with their daughter Katy. She was great with him, and Chase too. They ran around the yard and played in the little pool until they were all wet and cold. (I sure hope Katy didn't get sick!)

Mike, his wife and their girls at our house Saturday night.

Katy and Jonah having fun.

Jonah hopped in their van and would've probably completed the trip with Katy if we would have let him. They both settled in and got comfortable with their jammies and blankets. We drew the line when they started asking for their pillows!

The next day we were outside contemplating our garden set-up and I saw Chase and Jonah sitting on a stump at the end of our grass, over-looking our pond. I got the camera and went to ask them what they were doing...

They said they were looking for rattlesnakes!

Chase thought that if he found one he could catch it with the net he is holding in this picture. We discussed the pro's and con's of this idea and hopefully they will remember that the con's HEAVILY outweighed the pro's!!! A couple weekends ago, a family friend was bitten on the wrist by a baby rattlesnake. She was out in her yard pulling weeds around a tree and she said she felt like she was poked by a thorn, but it turned out it was baby rattlesnake teeth. She had to be life-flighted to Billings where she could get proper medication, since we didn't have any of it around here. Worland was short-staffed, as was Cody hospital. So she got a rather expensive, mostly pointless ride in a helicopter, and will be fine, thankfully.

Then they started getting goofy, and the snake-hunting was forgotten...(phew!)

Chaser playing around with his mom...

Chase and Jonah pics

2008-05-26T23:03:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Twas The Night After Thursday...

2008-01-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

The little poem below is something I came up with after our kids were sick the night of Dec. 14th. A little background info first: The "Mindy" I refer to is our daycare provider. She had been kissing them (sometimes even on the lips) along with a whole other passle of kids in her care (and I'm told I'm a bit of a germaphobe, but still....), and I had told "Mindy" (who's real name is Cindy, I didn't try to hide it much) to quit kissing my kids. I told her on multiple occasions, and it just so happened that approximately 24 hours after she kissed them on a Thursday (which invoked another discussion about kissing kids and spreading germs), they got sick on the following Friday night....Hence the name of my poem....

I added this poem to my blog because I was reading through our friend, Tammy's, blog and she actually came up with a poem of her own, also set to the rhythm of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". So I thought I'd throw my own version out there....

Twas the Night After Thursday…
By Julie Oster

Twas the night after Thursday, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse:

Their stockings were off and thrown down the stairs,
To be thrown in the wash and be out of our hairs;

Chase and Jonah were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of big toys danced in their heads;
With Nate in his sweatpants…I wasn’t wearing a cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When from Chase’s room there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away up the stairs I flew like a flash,
Nate got a big bucket and Chase threw up his hash.
A few minutes later just wouldn’t you know,
Out came Jonah, spewing objects below,
And, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But visions of (let’s call her) “Mindy”, kissing my two little dears.
I envisioned me driving to “Mindy’s” so quick,
At One in the morning to say they were sick.
More rapid than eagles my thoughts they did came,
About what I could tell her as I shouted her name;
“On Vomit, On Putrid, poor Chaser and Jonah,
First Puking then Silence and then Diarrhea!”
From the top of the stairs, to the end of the hall,
Thanks a lot there, “Mindy”, for infecting us all!
But, as the dry heaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When we meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So down to the t.v. room all of us drew,
Bravely spending the night catching all of the spew.

And then in a twinkling, I heard Chaser woof,
Then gagging and hurling from the tips of his hoof (toes).
As Nate drew up his hand to bring the bucket around,
Jonah did the same as he gagged on the ground.
He woofed and he hurled from his head to his foot,
I felt bad for them both, and their insomniate parents to boot!

Jonah’s poor little face and his round little belly,
Shook when he woofed like a bowlful of jelly.
Chase too, poor guy, usually impish himself,
I kept getting madder, in spite of myself.
I had premonitions and thoughts in my head,
Soon gave me to know I had something to dread;
I spoke not a word, but went straight to work,
With Lysol and Clorox, thinking she was a jerk,
For laying her lips aside of his nose,
And turning him upside-down by his toes;
He sprang to his feet, putting up a good fight,
And wiped off her kiss and scampered into the night.
And I heard myself think, as I cleaned through the night….
Hope YOUR weekend was better than OUR Friday night!!!

Fall/Halloween 2007

2007-11-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

It's Fall!!!

Here's some of our most recent pictures of Chase and Jonah. They're a bundle of fun every day, even with the daily dust-ups between the 2 of them. Tonight their Nana & Papa came over for awhile and they showed them their best wrestling skills. Tackling, take-downs, head-locks, clothes-lines, tumbles, pins. There's a whole lotta boy running around our house these days. Jonah is getting better at holding his own with his brother, but Chase is usually the one on top. Jonah's optimistic however and even when he's counting ceiling lights he'll yell, "I got him!" He doesn't hesitate to cry foul though, if he thinks it would benefit him and get him out from underneath.

Chase started pre-school at Children's Resource Center. He loves going to school. Something his brother can't do yet, "Cause he still poops in his diaper." He really enjoys his special time at CRC, it doesn't last long enough for him, though. Only 1 1/2 hours, 3 days a week. He's always eager to go and sad when he has to leave. I think he's easily overwhelmed in his daycare environment where there can be 18 loud, rowdy kids of all ages. I feel bad for him sometimes.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

August camping and a forest fire...

2007-09-20T12:43:00.000-06:00

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Jonah's second birthday pictures...

2007-08-19T22:35:00.000-06:00

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Jonah turned 2 on August 11th. It was a great day with good weather and good company. Jonah had fun, too. However, it's like a light switch went on in his head and he morphed into "The Terrible Two's." It happened sometime between the time he went to bed on August 10th and when he woke up on August 11th. OMG!! Our sweet natured, pleasant, easy-going little boy turned into a little crabby-pants, complete with crankiness, tantrums, grabbiness, demandingness, yelling, hitting...the works!! What happened??? Does it really happen like that, CAN it really happen like that? Wow. Yesterday morning we were playing downstairs. Chase and Jonah were finding immense amusement out of sliding our bathroom door open and closed. Well, Jonah wanted it shut when Chase wanted it open so Jonah leaned through the half-open/closed door and bit Chase on the chest (which is where Jonah hits when he's standing up straight). Drew blood, too! Chase arched his back, grabbed his chest, turned around in a half-circle, fell to the ground and acted like he'd been shot. Quite a scene, really...and I thought it was kinda funny until I pulled up Chase's shirt and found a perfect imprint of Jonah's teeth. Funny? Not so much! Jonah got a big ol' time-out and several reminders as I walked by him about how naughty biting is. I sure hope his whole second year isn't comprised of this type of instance!!! (grimace)

Jonah is turning 2!

2007-08-09T01:11:00.000-06:00

We're having a party!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

I can hardly believe our little man is turning 2! Chase has some difficulty thinking that it's only going to be Jonah's birthday...and not his, too. But, he thinks that Jonah would like a really big car and a really little car for his birthday....And if it were to be Chase's birthday as well, then he'd like a reeeeaally BIG dino....(as wide and high as his arms can reach, just in case you were wondering.)

A blast from the past...

2007-07-30T22:51:00.000-06:00

I've been doing a scrapbooking project for the folks' 40th wedding anniversary in September. This project has required my mom and dad to go through all their old photos so they can choose a few to be scrapbooked. While time-consuming, I think it's been fun taking a trip down memory lane. Dad emailed me a few pics that he scanned from old slides, which is how he saved the majority of his pictures over the years. As a result of scanning the slides, and aging, and a few passes by a very hot projector screen bulb, some of the pictures have warped and become fuzzy. I've tried to fix them a bit, with the limited knowledge I have of photo enhancement...and come up with these. It's kinda fun seeing what emerges through tinkering with color, cropping and sharpness...

This picture was taken in front of our little red house on the heights. This was when there were only one or two other houses on the hill. Now it's a subdivision.

My brother, Chris. How cute was he, man?! Dang cute!

Summer pictures...and some words.

2007-07-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Bradin Daniel Ewen came to us on 04/11/07 and we're so excited that he's here! He's 3 months old already and is as cute as they come! He has red hair like his brother, Elias, who is an excellent big brother. Ashlyn and Elias take great care of him. It's fun to see. Bradin has great, big dimples and they really stand out when he smiles and laughs.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Since we still haven't replace the camera that was stolen from us, we've had to rely on family and friends to send us what they have. The above collection is some of what we've received to date. Very cute kids, nieces and nephews. I'm very lucky...

March 2007 kid pics

2007-04-01T21:58:00.000-06:00

Well, take a good look at the only pictures we have of the kids so far this year. No, we haven't been negligent in our efforts to capture our darlings' developmental milestones, on the contrary, I had taken roughly 250 pictures (I know because the camera told me the memory card was full) the day the camera, that memory card and one other memory card was stolen while we were at the park a couple weeks ago! (insert lots of swear words here). We had noticed a couple little kids playing in the skate park next to the camera bag...but they were kids...and we were in Greybull, WY (pop. 1800) afterall. Crime doesn't happen here, right? Wrong. But, to give the little klepto's a some wiggle room, we have to take some of the blame for leaving the camera bag out in the open. We set the bag down and walked over the dike to throw a couple rocks in the river and when we came back (5 minutes, tops!) the camera bag had been opened and rifled through. I'm not sure why they didn't take the whole thing, but they left the bag, with my cell phone in it, and took the camera and memory cards. hmmm. We called the police, and I hunted down the roughians (1 boy and 1 girl) that I thought stole the camera. I found the little boy crouched down on the floorboard of a Jeep, of course he denied knowing anything about a camera, but pointed the finger at some other boys. By that time the police had shown up and the boys mother...we didn't get anywhere. And even after offering a reward in the paper that week, we still haven't heard anything. The camera is gone, but what I'm really sad about is all those pictures we lost... The following pictures came out of Nathan's work camera.

Chase got this tractor for his birthday last November. He's getting really good at steering it. Jonah is pretty good at stepping on the gas pedal, but hasn't figured out the steering wheel concept. The only problem with the tractor is that the traction sucks on it. It spins its wheels, even in the grass. We have to figure out a way to "Tool Time" it somehow. Give it more power or more traction or something! It pales in comparison to the real thing, however. They'd much rather talk their Daddy into getting out the riding lawnmower, or go to Papa's for a 4-wheeler ride or better yet, on a real-live tractor! Last night we went to a 'Welcome Home' bonfire for 2 guys that just got home from Iraq. There was a fire engine there with its lights flashing and it was pretty awesome for a couple little boys.

Chase is growing up so fast. We're seeing more and more evidence that those "Terrible Two's" are behind us (at least for Chase). His imagination is growing and developing all the time and it's so fun to watch what he comes up with. He still loves, loves, loves those dino's. So we get to pretend to be certain dino's. Tonight he assigned me to be a Stegasaurus, Jonah was a Spinosaurus, Nathan was Daddy T-Rex and Chase was a Ceolophysus. We walked around the yard and ate grass and trees. Then it was dinner-time for real and he wouldn't believe us when we tried to tell him that Ceolophysus's eat casserole. He would accept that Ceolophysus's might eat hotdogs, so that's what he had...again. He loves that nasty faux-food-product. What is it with kids?

Jonah is getting pretty good with his words. He'll try to repeat anything you ask him to. He got his big-boy bed a couple days ago. He had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor because he was climbing (and falling) out of his crib. We decided it was time to get a twin bed for him. He looks so small in it, though. He's still so little! At his 18-month well-baby checkup he weighed in in the 12th percentile for height and weight, and the 60th percentile for head circumference. No, they didn't measure his cheeks! That probably would've put him in the 90th percentile! He wakes up at night alot and I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. I don't want him to be scared of something and me not come and comfort him. I know it's probably just a phase and it won't last long, so I'm not terribly worried about it. And he's so hard to resist! It's hard to discipline him because it devestates him when you do, and he has an incredibly sweet face...makes you want to kiss him all the time!

Chase and Jonah playing on the sidewalk in front of our house. They were picking up bricks and throwing them on the concrete. What you can't see is that our house (and a bay window) is about 3 feet to the right of the picture. Made me nervous and they had to quit their antics as soon as I saw what they were up to. Mean ol' mom!

Chase's passion is dino's. Jonah's is balls. He loves them and can spot them wherever he goes. And, "Hoops." He likes to practice his hoops. He has a baby basketball hoop in the house and a larger one in the back yard and balls all over the place. We chuckle about which kid has what interest. The tall, athletic looking one loves extinct, prehistoric animals (and is great at recognizing and assigning their proper names), while the stubby-statured one has an interest in something that is usually saved for the less vertically challenged. Oh, well. You try to cater to their interests and never dash their dreams...

1/15/07

2007-01-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!!!

I hope this post finds everyone healthy and happy in 2007!

You may be wondering what Chase is doing on the floor with Casey dog. Well, can't you see that he's a dog, too? The weekend before Christmas we kept Casey for mom and dad overnight while they went to Billings to do some shopping. It didn't take too long for Chase to fall in love with Casey. Unfortunately his affections weren't reciprocated. Chase decided he was a dog. Followed Casey all over the house acting as much like a dog as he could. Thus, the picture. Chase decided he needed to eat on the floor next to Casey. Chase got crumbled-up Snackwell's Devil's Food cookies, though. Not real dog food. Also, Chase needed to have his drinking water in a bowl beside Casey, too.

Chase laid on Casey's dog bed and even went outside and fetched sticks...bent over and picked them up with his mouth and everything! We drew the line when he asked to go outside to go potty in the grass. Do you think the little boy needs a dog?

On our way home from Mom and Dad's house on Christmas Eve, we were explaining to Chase about how if he looked up in the sky he might see Santa. And when we got home he needed to go to sleep so Santa could come and give us presents that he could open the next morning. He looked up in the sky, and listened to our Santa story and said, "Wow. That's a good one!"

Chase was pretty curious about the whole Christmas process this year. We drove around town and looked at all the Christmas lights on the houses and he was excited to help decorate our house, which was fun because this is the first year he's shown a real interest in the whole process. He called it "Making Christmas." He "helped" put up and decorate the tree...and Jonah "helped" even more. Mom noticed every time she visited that the ornaments kept creeping higher and higher up on the tree due to busy little hands that liked to pluck the "balls" off at every opportunity. Jonah loves balls....

....which Nathan is very excited about. He's hoping Jonah keeps his interest in ball-related activities. In this picture Jonah taking a few moments to relax with Dad and watch a little football. Chase has no time for sitting and watching sports. He's more inclined to indoor (in house) track & field events and trying some pretty slick WWF wrestling moves on his brother. He has some really good take-down moves he uses on poor ol' Jonah.

Jonah will catch up to Chase someday soon...and lay him out flat!

Jonah showing us his muscles. It's pretty cute. He scrunches his little fists, raises his eyebrows and holds his breath until his face turns red. Quite the little personality....

A couple more Jonah pics

2006-11-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our Little Jonah...

He wants to be a big boy in the worst way...

11/11/06

2006-11-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

What a peaceful scene!!!

You'd never be able to guess by looking at these pictures that they enjoy tormenting each other!!!

Such nice boys...playing together!

Doesn't he look like all that he's made up of is a coat and a couple stubby legs??!! But very, very cute!

Halloween, 2006

2006-11-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

The weekend before Halloween we dressed the kids up and went to Shell for their Halloween party/dinner/gathering. They had a cute costume contest, and pumpkin carving contest (Jonah and I took 3rd) and pinatas for the kids to swing at. Jonah liked throwing those pint-sized Halloween buckets. They were just right for his little hand and he chucked them at people several times.

The day of Halloween, the kids got to be in a parade with their daycare providers. Chase is a dinosaur underneath his coat. He really is! Just ask him! He's a T-Rex, and if you ask if you can be a T-Rex too, he'll say, "NO! You're a Stegasauras!"

Jonaaaaaah, you're getting veeeeerrrrrry sleeeeeeepeeeeeey! You're eye's are getting veeeeerrrry heaveeeeeeeeey! At the count of 3, you will fall faaaaaast asleeeeeeeeep.
1..............
2..............

.........3!!!!....

.....and he's out!!!!

Our trip to the Black Hills

2006-10-22T23:55:00.000-06:00

Our weekend in the Black Hills with the Oster Clan!!

This is Aunt Erin with Chase at Mt. Rushmore. They're in a little space between several big boulders along a path that runs beneath the faces of the Presidents.

Chase is riding high on the shoulders of Uncle Stu at Bear Country, USA. We did alot of sight-seeing that day. Mt. Rushmore was the first stop of the day. After that we walked up and down the main street of Keystone, after that was Bear Country then Reptile Gardens and we ended the day in Deadwood. We went to the cemetary and then to the Silverado for the all-you-can-eat crab legs buffet.

Chase is taking a break from looking at grizzly bears to look at his mom. Such a handsome little boy if you ask me! I realize that's a very biased opinion!

Here's Jonah in the new jogging stroller we got. He's taking in the scenery at Bear Country, too. They were pretty good sports that day. It was a lot for a couple of little guys to take in all in one day!

Stu & Erin with Jonah. They're so great with our kids! Chase had his very first night away from his parents with Stu & Erin on this trip! (Granted, they were in an adjoining motel room) But, we asked Chase if he'd like to stay all night with Aunt Erin and Uncle Stu and he said 'Yes' so we gave them his blanket and a few books he likes to read before bedtime and left...sure enough, he was still there in the morning with no trouble at all!

Grandpa O. and Jonah at Bear Country.

This is the gravesite of Wild Bill Hickok. It's been spiffed-up a bit since we saw it last. Most of our group decided it was better before the bust-statue was put there. I wonder if the HBO series "Deadwood" had anything to do with all the fanciness?

Where has Summer gone???

2006-10-17T08:26:00.000-06:00

Wow! I can't believe Summer is coming to a close! It's been about 6 weeks since my last post and it seems like time just flies.

The first weekend in September we went back up on the mountain where mom and dad had their camper, and in the background of this picture you can see Uncle Dave and Aunt Vicki's teepee.

Jonah looks like a mountain man in papa's hat.

Dave and Vicki also brought their horses up to camp, which was a huge hit with the kids, Chase especially. Papa's trying to interest Jonah in petting her.

Chase was very eager to get up on the horse and ride it. He had no fear what-so-ever! At first he hopped up in the saddle all by himself and was led around the campsite, but he quickly decided you could go a long way away from camp on the horse and asked papa to take him there...so they did!

Uncle Dave took Jonah on a horse ride, too. But they didn't get as far away from camp as papa and Chase did before Jonah decided he needed to see his mom. He looks pretty cute (and really little) up there in the saddle!

I don't know if you can tell it from this picture, but all the forest fires around the country made the Big Horns really smokey/hazy. Normally, when you look across at this mountain it's crystal clear. And you could smell it, too! I walked around for weeks with yucky smoke-smell stuck in my nostrils. A little smoke smell isn't too bad and I kinda like it, but when it goes on for weeks and weeks it gets old.

One last picture before ending. There's not many things these two do as a team, but they can sure work together to demolish our house! Jonah likes to see how he fits into tight little spaces. He gets stuck in alot of them that he tries. He goes into the kitchen, hauls out the bowls/pots/pans/food/etc. from the cupboard and crawls inside. One time I found both of them in a pantry cupboard with the doors closed. They were having a blast...until the shelf above them collapsed and spilled its contents on top of them. They weren't hurt but Jonah was really, really scared! It didn't deter him for long. He still likes to see if he gets the same result from that same cupboard.

August 31, 2006

2006-08-31T10:26:00.000-06:00

Chase has a big-boy bike! Last Friday I bought a bike for him at Walmart. It has shocks and everything. It needed to be sturdy since we live on a very bumpy, wash-boardy dirt road. We thought it was probably time for him to get one of his very own. The week before we went up to play with the neighbor's and he hopped on the little boys bike and rode it up and down the sidewalk like he'd done it before. Then, a couple days later we saw the same neighbor boys out for a walk and Chase tried to hijack the boys' bike and claim it for his own. He tried to tell the little boys' daddy that it really was his. That's when we knew that he needed one of his own!

He likes being "a big boy." He'll ride around and around our driveway saying, "I did it!" Yes, you did, Honey! I'm so proud!

On Sunday we went up to the mountain where mom and dad were camping with some friends from Wisconsin. Chase had a blast throwing rocks in the creek and riding the 4-wheeler with Papa. He also tried really hard to find "Heepmucks" (Chipmunks) because he wanted to share his donut and his water with them.

Jonah enjoyed seeing all the sights from his little stroller. He bounces over the rocks and water and watches what his big brother is doing. He's pretty patient with it all.

He really likes riding the 4-wheeler with Papa and Chase. The only problem was that they were riding around nap time and he started to fall asleep during the ride. Papa had to come back and drop him off for a nap in the camper. Papa and Chase kept going for awhile. Chase loves Papa's 4-wheeler and Papa's "tactoh" (tractor). Tuesday night they got on the tractor and pushed around a pile of dirt just for the fun of it. It's pretty easy to talk Papa into free rides on the big toys. "Five moe minuteth, Papa!"

Jonah had a birthday!!!

2006-08-17T23:30:00.000-06:00

Jonah turned 1 year old on August 11th @ 8:57 a.m. Minnesota time...7:57 a.m. Wyoming time! We had a good day. A bunch of family came to our house, we had a BBQ and cake and ice cream and presents! In this picture Jonah is getting the Happy Birthday song sung to him...and he's not sure he likes it.

Jonah got a little cake all his own, and Graisen and Chase helped blow out the candles on the big-people cake. Not too long after this picture was taken, they both went into the back yard and released all the helium balloons they could get their hands on....then shortly after that they wanted them back!

Jonah took a half-hearted stab at his little cake. He was overwhelmed by the singing, but extremely under-whelmed by his cake. I expected we'd have to throw him in the tub after diving into his cake like his brother did at HIS one-year party....

....but this is the extent of his messiness...also the extent of his patience with his party. He'd had enough of whatever kind of fun everyone else thought they were having!

He did enjoy a toy phone he received. He puts it to his ear and says, "HA!". I'm assuming that's his version of "Hi", which is very cute. He also says, "Uh-oh" and "Dat" for (what's that?)...along with random mamamama, dadadada & nananana. Oh, and he points to the light and says something like "Ought". He's a genius.

August 8, 2006

2006-08-08T08:19:00.000-06:00

Jonah enjoyed himself at the Centennial parade! He really likes giving hugs, especially to cute little girls! The little girl in this picture is his 2nd cousin, Riley. Luckily, she wasn't offended by him and returned his affections with big kisses of her own!

Nana bought a whole bunch of tiny little squirt guns and passed them out to the kids during a family gathering 2 Sundays ago. The little kids (and big kids, too!) had a blast running around Nana & Papa's deck squirting each other on another one of Wyoming's squelchingly hot summer days.

Graisen is working on getting his sister, I think....

...and of course, his sister returns the favor!!!

The Centennial Celebration weekend was alot of fun for me. I got to see a bunch of my classmates from High School at the get-together at my house and then later at the street dance/Smokehouse-sidewalk-marathon-window ledge sit. :-) My butt hurt for 2 days after sitting on the ledge for about 4 hours! Michelle and Tina came from far, far away to visit. (And kudo's to Tina who came to Wyoming in spite of having some very painful injuries!) I absolutely loved seeing my classmates all grown up with families of their own. How (in the 2 minutes it's been since we graduated from High School) did we get this old? I can't believe we probably should start thinking about planning our 20 year class reunion soon! OK Sean, you were right, 41 in our graduating class...but in my defense, I think I always counted Thor, who was in our class, but unfortunately wasn't able to graduate.

All of mom's brothers and sisters were able to get together during the centennial, too. It was good to see them all but I wasn't able to spend a whole lot of time with them considering how busy that weekend was. Prayers to my Uncle Dan, who has some pretty serious health concerns and is looking at needing a liver transplant.

We went to the Big Horn County Fair last Thursday. Chase decided he wanted to see chickens and alligator's. He was only half disappointed since there were many, many chickens at the fair, but lacked the alligator exhibit. Nathan got to take pictures of an activity he truly missed when we were in Minnesota....PIG WRESTLING!!! (NOT!!) He has no love for the sport, and especially when he has a new camera he's a little protective of. Thankfully he won't have to attend the event for another year!!!

July 24, 2006 Centennial Week!

2006-07-24T12:38:00.000-06:00

The Greybull Centennial celebration starts this week! I'm really looking forward to it! I'm going to get to see alot of my old high school classmates and all of my mom's brothers and sisters will be in town. There's a parade and a street dance and I'm hosting a gathering/BBQ for my classmates at my house. It should be fun. Then on Sunday my family is having a get-together. It'll be a fun-filled weekend, for sure!

My cousin, Casey, was here visiting over the weekend. She needs our extra special and fervent prayers right now. Casey and I spent some very special time together and I appreciate her insight, faith and candor. It was also really nice to see Clarrissa, Bethany and Christopher. Christopher and Chase could give each other a run for their money if given enough time together. They both have the same energy level, if you can imagine that!

I had a blast on my trip to Billings with Lisa. We shopped till we dropped and picked up a stove, oven and microwave from Sears...and managed to fit EVERYTHING in the back of Lisa's Tahoe!!! The boys at Sears didn't think it was possible to do it, but we made them try and sure enough, everything fit! It was a good day.

July 17, 2006

2006-07-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went to the dinosaur tracks. It's a little spot in the hills where people discovered that dinosaurs had walked in the mud along a shoreline and they became forever cemented in time.

It's been very hot here! A couple days ago it was 103! We went up the mountain to see the Big Horn 100 (a 100 mile horse race). It was 79 degrees on the mountain and 24 degrees hotter when we came out of the canyon. Yuk!!!

Chase is on the hunt for dinosaurs! Kind of a disappointing trip for him. We told him we were going to look at dino tracks, he wanted to see the dino's that made them!

You can walk right out on the track site. It looks like a dried creek bed. You can see the ripples left by the water, along with the tracks.

Here's one of the tracks. It's about the size of both of your hands.

The track site...

Jonah has 2 teeth!!

2006-07-13T00:04:00.000-06:00

FINALLY!!! Our almost 11-month old got his first tooth on July 1st. Then on July 10th his second little chopper popped through! He's been a little edgy the last few days and his daycare provider is having trouble getting him to drink his bottles, probably due to his teething issues. Poor guy. He'll probably get a bunch of teeth all at once because he waited so long to start showing us his pearly whites. It's been a good thing for his mom, however. Nursing him this long has been a breeze! His big, slobbery, chompy chin kisses have to come to an end, though. It's becoming painful!

Chase has been a little edgy, too. Unfortunately we can't blame his attitude on teething. Hopefully it's a case of the terrible/moody/demanding/stubborn/tantruming two's. Ya gotta give the little guy a bit of a break, considering all the changes he's had to deal with in his life lately. Chaser was in time-out at daycare this afternoon when Nathan arrived for stomping his feet and tantruming. He's getting good at that lately. Then he can turn around and be SOOOOOOO sweet.... I love my boys.

July 10, 2006

2006-07-10T15:15:00.000-06:00

We finally made it! What an experience the last few weeks have been. It's been 3 weeks since my last day of work in Minnesota. Since then we've packed our Jordan house moved it to Wyoming, had carpet installed, unpacked (mostly) and bought all new appliances (with the exception of the dishwasher) for the kitchen. We said goodbye to our old jobs, started new ones and have started settling into some kind of routine. It's been crazy busy in our lives the last few weeks and we're eager to start feeling like we have some normalcy (whatever that is) in our routines.

July 4th was fun at our house. Chris, Shauna, Elias, Ashlyn, Nana and Papa came to our house for a BBQ and to shoot off fireworks. We had fun but our neighbors were a little too close for us to feel comfortable shooting the rockets in our driveway. We tried it once and had to go retrieve the remains from one of our neighbor's trees. We decided to stick with the ones that "Emits Showers of Sparks" and stayed on the ground. It was alot of fun. Jonah feel asleep in the middle of the whistles and blasts of the 4th of July. Chase loved it...from the security of his mom's lap. Which was o.k. with me. It's not every day he needs reassurance from mom. He usually tackles his world and his challenges with all the gusto a 2-year old can muster.

Hopefully, now that I have access to internet, I'll be able to update the blog with more regularity. I've missed the updates!

June 17, 2006

2006-06-17T22:43:00.000-06:00

Well, it was a good day! Aunt Erin and Uncle Stu came over last night to have dinner, spend the night and go to the zoo today. We spent several hours at the zoo and it turns out that the highlight of the trip were 2 little toys we bought for Chase at the gift store. The toys are of a monkey head and a zebra head on a stick. You can make the jaws move and when the jaws move they bark out the appropriate animal noise. (Very annoying after awhile!) The toys were also a hit with several other kids at the zoo who boldly came up to both Chase and Jonah and tried to take them away from them! Chase got to feed baby goats at a farm exhibit that was pretty neat. He must have run 3 miles around the zoo today! And do you think he was ready to go to bed at bedtime tonight? NOPE!!! He kept getting out of bed and coming to the door. It took several times of walking him back to bed before it actually took. Jonah, too! I thought he'd go right to sleep since he hardly slept at all today, but I put him to bed awake after nursing him for a good 35 minutes. He was soooo good at the zoo today. Very patient and willing to hang out in the stroller most of the time and look around. He smiled at people, took a very short snooze while I was holding him and was generally very sweet. A very good boy. Even toward the end when we got caught in a rainstorm!

This week we'll start packing for the big move to Wyoming! The kids will continue to go to daycare so we can get the job done in an organized fashion. Hopefully things go smoothly, I'll keep ya posted!...

Last day of work!! 6/16/06

2006-06-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

After a rather rocky week, Nathan and I have reached our final day of work! It seems like we've been waiting for this day for a long time...oh wait,....WE HAVE!!! Our coworkers have thrown after hours going-away parties for each of us. And today Nathan gets cake and I'm going to a mexican place called "Pablo's" for lunch with my coworker pals. I'm going to miss them something fierce! Even though I won't miss what I do here, my coworkers are the best. They are why I stayed at this job and not tried real hard to find something else to do here. I will keep in touch with some of them forever. A sad/happy/sad/happy parting today in many ways...

I talked to Elias on the phone last night and he shared a harrowing tale of finding a rattlesnake at Nana & Papa's during a walk in the hills. I asked him if his dad killed it and he said, "No, 'cause it wasn't really doing anything bad." Oh,...right...my bad. I probably shouldn't be promoting senseless violence and destruction. Thanks to my 8 year old nephew for shedding some light. He also told me that he'd like to go see that zoo, that big ol' mall and that big aquarium when he comes to see us next week. I'm up for that, it'll be alot of fun to show my nephew and niece the fun stuff around here for a couple days. I'm looking forward to it. Then it's off to our new/old lives in G-town. I'm getting excited about getting into the small town life and settling in.

6/8/06

2006-06-08T08:16:00.000-06:00

The first part of June is a very busy birthday time in our family! Some very special people have very special days on the 1st, 5th and 10th. Ashlyn and Jenny's birthdays are on June 1st, Graisen and Nathan's Dads' birthday's are on the 5th and Elias and Aunt Vicki have birthdays on the 10th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! to all of them. I wish I could be there to celebrate with everyone...next year we will be.

Next week is my last week of work. I'm very excited about that. Dad says I have 'Short-timers' which may be true, but the nature of my job here requires alot of "busy work" where I do paperwork and computer work and wait for my clients to call me...which isn't very often since I have the ability to take their money away from them if I find that they aren't "following the rules." Next week my coworkers are planning a going-away gathering for me. We're going to meet at a restaurant that has outside seating after work for a little while. That'll be fun, but the saying-goodbye process is a little uncomfortable. I love my coworkers and I'm going to miss them terribly and a few of us will keep in touch through email and such, but most likely I won't see alot of them again. That's kind of a tough position. They're all so nice.

Our house plans are coming along. We have a closing time for our Jordan house. We're trying to organize carpet/vinyl for our Greybull house which is a little difficult to do from 900+ miles away. Georgia @ McKinnon's has been very helpful and very nice/patient with us so far. We'll get something worked out shortly.

Jonah's First Haircut!!! 6/1/06

2006-06-02T13:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a momentous occasion for Jonah and his parents. His bangs were creeping below his eyebrows and people were commenting on how cute SHE was, so we decided it was time. Chase is in the background in the last chair facing us getting his hair cut, too.

Getting his hair wet with a squirt bottle...

Jonah sportin' a mohawk, but it's a little hard to see in the picture. It was pretty cute, though.

Beginning with the scissors....

Starting to look like a little boy...that adorable, sweet little face!!!
Makes me want to kiss him!!

All done!! Back in mommy's arms and everything is A-O.K.!! I sure was sad to see that little tuft of his original hair at his crown get cut off. A happy/sad moment for me. Jonah seems o.k. with it, though.

June 1, 2006. Pictures from G-pa's

2006-06-01T09:23:00.000-06:00

Here's a few pictures from our weekend on the farm at Grandpa's.

Chase and Grandpa on one of many rides on the tractor. Chase is very serious about his fun.

Chase showing his balancing skills on some railroad ties in the yard in front of Grandpa's. Yes, those are his pajama's. There's a "Teeeee-Wex" (T-Rex) on his shirt and he likes it alot.

Chase is playing with "Mine Yodah" (My Loader), actually Grandpa's Loader, in Grandpa's driveway. Yep...still in his pajama's!! Skinny little cuss, isn't he? And that's in spite of eating 2 packages of Famous Amos cookies on the way to daycare this morning...and that's AFTER eating a whole piece of peanut butter toast, a can of peaches and some cheerios for breakfast!!

May 31, 2006

2006-05-31T10:52:00.000-06:00

Our trip to South Dakota to see Nathan's dad went well. Chase LOVED riding all the tractors, 4-wheelers, 3-wheelers, lawn mowers, farm trucks, etc. that his Grandpa has on the farm. His Grandpa has been waiting for 2 1/2 years for Chase to want to do those things with him, so they had fun together. Jonah likes it, too! We all went on a little ATV ride (Chase & me on a 4-wheeler, Nathan & Jonah on a 3-wheeler). We learned alot of important things on the farm, like what kind of special body parts bulls have on them! :-)

Nathan, Chase, Gary and Nathan's Grandma went out Sunday night and put flowers at the graves of loved ones. It's tough for the family this year, since Carolyn was the one who usually arranged flowers in the past. Last year on Memorial Day weekend was when she was admitted to the hospital and was never able to come back to the farm. So it's a significant weekend in several ways. The flower above is a Forget-Me-Not. That's for Carolyn, and all our other loved ones we remember on Memorial Day.

May 24, 2006

2006-05-24T09:11:00.000-06:00

Our trip to Colorado for April's wedding went very well! April is now Mrs. Allen and in Cancun for her honeymoon with her husband, Zack. April's wedding was alot of fun and it was great seeing all my old pals. April was a beautiful bride and Jolyn and Terry were beautiful bridesmaids and I enjoyed catching up with them. My boys (all of them...Nathan, too) were very patient for the entire trip and I appreciate them all. There's a certain kind of bonding that takes place on long car trips. (And I think I can recite Baby Einstein's "Baby McDonald" to you forward and backward)!!! Chase loves that DVD and we listened as he watched it during the approx. 40 hour round trip! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! While we were driving through the mountains in Colorado, Chase looked out the window and said, "Big mountains, I go see papa." He was pretty upset when we didn't end up seeing papa that day.

Nathan and I both told our employers of our future departure back to Wyoming. They all say they're sad to see us leave, but completely understand why we want to move. So we have decided that our last day of work will be on June 16th. We will stay that next week and pack up what we can, then mom and dad will come out (with my bro. and Elias, too, I think) and move us home! I can't wait! I've been thinking what kinds of fun things we can do with Elias while he's here. I'll have to talk to him about it, but we have 2 zoo's and an amusement park he'd probably like a whole lot.

Camp Snoopy, 5/13/2006

2006-05-16T11:13:00.000-06:00

Chase's first ride of the day on a choo-choo train with his dad. He was very, very serious about the whole amusement ride experience.

Daddy and Chase on a lion. Chase also rode a horse, a "amigo" (flamingo, which was really an ostrich, but we didn't tell him that), a puma (his word, not sure where he came up with it, but it was a big cat so he was correct), a zebra and a giraffe.

Aunt Erin with Chase on the zebra.

The car ride is where Chase cracked his first smile. The car whips you around that little bend and Chase howled with laughter. It shouldn't surprise us though, he is a bit of a dare-devil.

Jonah had an exceptional day...

The Dino Museum, 5/13/2006

2006-05-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

We went to the Dinosaur Walk Museum at the Mall of America on Saturday with Uncle Stu and Aunt Erin. The kids love, love, love their Aunt and Uncle. The feeling is mutual, I think. Look how red Jonah's hair looks!

Uncle Stu and Chase diggin' for fossils. Chase was a little intimidated by the life-size dino replica's. He needed a little time in someone's arms before being able to go it alone.

At the end of his time at the museum, Chase wanted to take it all home with him! He grabbed up as much as he could and headed for the door. He wasn't disappointed...he didn't get it all, but he got alot! Hard to resist.

This is how our little Jonah enjoyed his trip to the museum...

Good news!!!

2006-05-16T07:50:00.000-06:00

We sold our house! All the prayers paid off! We had that showing last Thursday and Friday we got an offer, which was way, way, way below what we were asking, but we settled on a price somewhere in the middle. We went to our realtor Friday after work and signed papers on it and today an inspector is coming out from 3-5:00. After that it's pretty much a done deal! Yay!!!

Tonight I go for a final fitting of my bridesmaid dress for April's wedding. And none too soon! We leave for Colorado day after tomorrow. We're a little bit nervous about how driving 1100 miles with 2 little boys is going to go. Please pray that we all keep our sanity after 17 hours of driving and 100 reruns of Elmo/Barney/Teletubbies, etc. I love yooou...You love meeee...we're a crazee famillee.... :-)

May 12, 2006

2006-05-12T13:10:00.000-06:00

Jonah had his 9-month doctor appointment today! I'm happy to announce that he's perfectly average!!! He weighs 19 lbs. 14 1/2 oz, he's 27 3/4" tall with a 45.5 cm head circumference. That puts him in the 50th percentile in all categories. Lookin' at those cheeks, though, you'd think he'd be closer to the 90-100th percentile!!! Everybody that sees him loves his cheeks and loves his hair. The doctor says we shouldn't worry about his lack of teeth. Some babies don't get their first tooth until they're 15 months old! Also, his funny little way of crawling is nothing to be concerned about. Dr. says it's probably just a habit...that he learned to pull himself forward on his left elbow, and that's the way he's kept at it.

**Stu and Erin are coming over tonight. We were hoping to be able to go to the zoo tomorrow but I don't think that's going to work. It's raining today and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, too. There's an exhibit at the MOA called, "The Dinosaur Walk" that might be an option. Chase is really into dinosaurs right now...and it's inside so we wouldn't have to worry about the weather. I think we're grilling tonight, which might be interesting in the rain.

**I heard some very exciting news this morning from Nana. Elias and Ashlyn's gerbils had babies!!! The gerbils got "married" a couple months ago and resulted in gerbil offspring. Elias isn't sure what they'll do with the babies...maybe take them back to the pet store. The husband and wife gerbil may have to be seperated from now on because, "She can get pregnant again 3 days after she has babies!" Wow....

May 11, 2006

2006-05-11T13:27:00.000-06:00

The BEAST!!!!! It's back!!! I came home last night and the first thing that greeted me was that mysterious funky odor that keeps plaguing our house! It comes and goes and we can't figured out where it's coming from. I realized, as I was sniffing the foul air, that it most likely greeted the 4 (yes, 4, not 1 like we originally thought) realtors that previewed our house earlier in the day. I ran around the house last night lighting candles and opening windows, and today I have a sore throat. But hopefully the smell will be absent for the person looking at our house this evening.

It was chilly last night, but we took a walk anyway. We went to the park where Chase amazed us (me and other parents) with his fearlessness on the slides. He climbed up on the slides and took a run at the bar above the slides, grabbed ahold of the bar, swung once and hurled himself half-way down the slide where his butt hit and slid to the end of the slide where it launched him onto the gravel. He thought it was fun, I had put my hands over my eyes and the other parents gasped in horror...then looked at me accusingly like, "You actually let him do that?" I shrugged and shook my head, what can you do? Then we went down to the pond and he tried to pull a log out of the water. He dropped the log and gave himself a couple big, welty scratches on his calf and shin. Yesterday alone he gave himself a fat lip from swinging the baby gate shut on his face, then he fell into the window ledge at daycare and he got a bruise on his forehead, then the log incident. I looked at his body last night in the tub and in addition to the above mentioned "bonk-a-knees" he also has a bruise on his elbow, both knees have scrapes and cuts and numerous bruises on his shins. Aaaahh, summer....

May 10, 2006

2006-05-10T14:48:00.000-06:00

OK! All prayers on deck! We have a showing tomorrow from 7:30-8:30 p.m. CST (that's 6:30-7:30 Mountain Standard Time, for all those who are willing to pray at the exact time people are looking at our house!) :-)

We're looking forward to going to Colorado for April's wedding a couple weekends from now. I talked to her a couple nights ago and she's really excited (and a little stressed) for her big day. I'm excited to be able to share her wedding day with her. I'm also excited to meet her husband-t0-be. I'm sure he's wonderful! If she loves him, we'll love him, too. I'm sooo happy for her! We're gonna have a blast!

May 9, 2006

2006-05-09T10:22:00.000-06:00

Our poor little Chase is afraid of thunder! We went out for a walk last night, in spite of Nathan's fearless forecast of rain. (Nathan stayed behind to clean up after dinner) Well, we started walking through the pine trees up to the industrial park and it began to thunder....Chase FREAKED out!! Started crying and saying, "Go home, Go home, Go home!" He didn't even want to walk, he crawled up in the stroller with Jonah and we started for home. We got out of the trees and headed for the street and it started to rain...then it started to hail...then we started to run! I covered Chase with the blanket he brought and he was saying, "raining, raining, raining!" When we got to the end of our street I saw Nathan backing the Jeep out to come rescue us. He didn't even put any shoes on and his socks were soaked...I was really soaked, Chase's blanket was wet...and Jonah didn't even make a peep! He was just taking it all in. I took him out of the stroller and hopped in the Jeep. He had rain running down his face, but it was all o.k. with him. Funny boys. I felt sorry for Chase though. The thunder came and he looked up at the sky and his lip started to poke out and then the tears came. Another developmental milestone. When the imagination develops, more fears develop as well. He's afraid of the vaccuum, the car wash and now thunder.

Talked to Pat and Claudia about the house last night. They seem happy for us to be moving in, and very easy to work with. We're getting excited and can see our extended family enjoying our house with us, too.

May 7, 2006

2006-05-07T16:19:00.000-06:00

We had our showing today. The only people that came was an old couple that DIDN'T want a split-entry and a realtor previewing our house because she's listing one in our neighborhood next week. Our realtor said the lack of people was probably due to the good weather. The lack of people at our last showing was because of the bad weather. GOOD weather....BAD weather...what's the PERFECT weather for buying a house? Any guesses?

Yesterday we planted flowers in our planters on either side of our front door. Chase got ahold of the hose and started chasing us around the yard with it. Got us, too! He side-swiped Nathan's pants and snuck up to me and soaked my shirt! He thought it was hilarious. Our little comedian.

No naps for our little Chaser the entire weekend. We're counting the hours until bedtime tonight. He's running on lots of energy and a short fuse. His parents, however, are beat...

May 6, 2006

2006-05-06T10:26:00.000-06:00

This morning we're cleaning our house and planting flowers, hoping someone will be impressed with our effort. We have an open house tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be spectacular. This afternoon after the kid's naps we're going shopping. Not sure for what. We've thought about looking for appliances for the new house, but we also need to get something for Mother's Day. Not telling what I have in mind...just in case you-know-who is reading this! :-) Nathan's been so good to me on Mother's Day since I became a mommy, I'm not wanting much this year as we really can't afford it with everything else we're doing and that's coming up. I've asked for a little mini-fridge for milk storage (and later pop storage) at my next place of employment! Still plan on doing the pumping thing after we move!!
More later...

House update...

2006-05-05T14:01:00.000-06:00

No news on our house here in Minnesota, but the house we want in Greybull is practically ours! We have accepted each others offers/counter offers and are now on to the next step. Very exciting and hopefully we will be living at 2641 Shady Lane sometime next month!

We had a showing on our house here last night. The realtor showing scheduler called at 4:40 and wanted to show our house at 5:00. We got the comments back from it: He liked it, she didn't. So I guess it's still a big, fat goose egg.

May 5, 2006

2006-05-05T12:32:00.000-06:00

Here's Chase eating breakfast at Nana & Papa's house. From the signs on his face, I'd guess it's chocolate. He's developing quite a sweet tooth, but who can resist that little face?

And then there's Jonah! Look at him! His cheeks are so big, they shine! There's nothing in them, though....I know 'cause I checked!

Ashyn and Graisen playing outside at Nana & Papa's. I love seeing the cousins get along so well. And you can't tell they've ever had a camera pointed at the, can you? Ashlyn's posed so nicely on the rock and Graisen is flashing us his charming little smile.

Elias was so excited to be able to hold his cousin. I love this picture because it's of the 2 grandkids with red hair. Elias has a true red hair, Jonah's is auburn....AND THOSE CHEEKS!!! Have you ever seen 2 cuter pairs of cheeks?!? I love it.

Nathan and our "Little Square"! Jonah loves playing the Stand-Up game with his dad. So cute!!

May 2, 2006

2006-05-02T09:37:00.000-06:00

Another day of rain...and no calls about our house. Our realtor says it's just slow for everyone, and the weather doesn't help. She's running a couple ads in the big newspapers this week so hopefully that will generate some more interest. On a positive note, she said that if we decide to move BEFORE we sell the house, she would take care of the up-keep of our yard. That was something we were concerned about. Another step in the right direction is we made an offer on the house we want in Greybull on the heights. We'd be really close to Chris, Shauna, Elias and Ashlyn...something we're really excited about, hopefully they feel the same way! :-) They just bought a beautiful house on the heights that they're very proud of, and rightfully so.

Chase is looking forward to seeing his Nana & Papa. On the way home from work last night Chase started repeating, "See Nana, See Nana" so we called her when we got home. That upset him because he wanted to "SEE NANA," not just talk to her on the phone. He knows what he wants, man, don't try talkin' him out of it!

Talked on the phone with Erin last night. Last time we went to visit Aunt Erin and Uncle Stu's house, Chase broke a leg off of a Demdaco sheep while he was playing with it. We tried sending her a new sheep with a card that said, "Dear Aunt Erin, Sorry I broke your sheep. I love you." She said she wouldn't keep the unbroken sheep, but would keep the card. And that she wished she had some little fingers that could come to our house and break our stuff. That's my wish too, Erin, and I believe that will happen...and I will love to having your little someone come to my house and break my things!!!

My cousin (Casey) has been released from the hospital and has gone to Shane, Casey and Ellie's home in Casper. I think about her alot and she's taught me alot, even from afar. If you want to know how to deal with a very sad, painful and challenging situation, watch Casey. She probably has more faith, grace and courage than anyone I know and she's somebody I can learn a lot from.

April29-30, 2006

2006-05-01T08:31:00.000-06:00

Not much happened this weekend with selling our house. Nathan got a little excited once when he saw an SUV going slowly past our house, but that's all the activity we saw! It's rained straight through since Thursday evening, though, and that may be a reason for the lack of activity. We're hoping that's all it is. Someone has to love our house, right?

We had fun with the kids. Chase likes to stay home with Mommy and Daddy, play with his dinosaurs and watch Baby Einstein. And Jonah is o.k. with whatever we do, just as long as we're close by for quick hugs and kisses, and to make sure he doesn't miss a meal! He's really getting into eating. I'm trying to make all his baby food, after he threw up the jarred sweet potatoes twice when we first started feeding him solids. Now he eats avocadoes, squash, potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, bananas, apples, peaches, pears, turkey, chicken, ham, hamburger. Last week Chase and I went to Dairy Queen to get "fie-fie's" (french fries...just is case you didn't understand Chase-ese) and Chase left them on the floor in the living room. I went upstairs to get something and when I came back down Jonah had crawled over to them and was double-fisting them as fast as he could get them to his mouth! (oops) Gotta start watching whats on the floor since he can get anywhere he puts his mind to now.

No pictures yet. We haven't downloaded them onto our computer, but I plan to do that as soon as I have a minute. There's some good one's from our trip to Wyoming. Some really cute ones of Ashlyn and Graisen playing outside Nana & Papa's house. Also, some really cute one's of Elias holding Jonah. More later...

April 28th, 2006

2006-04-28T12:56:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone! I thought I'd take a stab at this blogging business. I'm not sure how this all work and am not really one who reads the directions first. I like to learn as I go, so forgive the initial attempts.

We're working really hard at moving back to Wyoming from Minnesota. We're trying to sell our house here and make enough money from it to be able to afford the kind of house we want in Wyoming. Please pray that we can make that happen...and soon. I just got a call about someone wanting to see our house today. Let's hope they love our house and make an offer on it!

These are some pictures of our kids and nieces and nephews. We have more recent ones from our trip to Wyoming last weekend, but haven't downloaded them yet. I got some great one's I'll share as soon as I can.