Weekly Wrap-up #6

So I know it hasn't been a full week since I updated, but I am trying to update from Sunday-Saturday, so here we go! On Sunday, we went to a Super Bowl party that was combined with small group. I made potato skins again since they were such a big hit last time. We made 40!! Shawn was a big help scooping the potato out of the skins! There was only one left so I figure we did good!!

Karsan's school had a festival last Thursday night. They were serving cheese enchiladas, Mexican rice & beans. They also had a silent auction and a bake sale. From the looks of things they made quite a bit of money!! We purchased some items at the bake sale (imagine that)!! Karsan was also Star Student last week. She filled out a poster about herself and it was hung up in the class. We went up to the school on Thursday and was her lunch buddies. It was fun!! Her daddy also wrote a poem about her for the teacher to share with the class!

Karsan is a Star!

Karsan is a sweetheart.

She's kind and full of care.

She used to be an only child,

But now she's learned to share.

She has a baby brother,

Who turned one not long ago.

Wherever Karsan leads,

Gunnar is sure to follow.

Karsan has a dog,

And Grover is his name.

Although they love to fight and play,

They love each other just the same.

As winter slowly says good-bye,

And springtime draws so near.

Dust off those cleats and fill the seats,

'Cause softball time is here.

That's right sports fans,

Drink it in.

She loves to catch and bat around,

Just lookin' for another win.

Her mom and dad are proud of her,

All the achievements and awards she's won.

But above all else and nothing less,

Than the little lady she's become.

Now I think Gunnar says three words....dog-dog, dada and hi! He makes lots of funny sounds, but none that I can make into words! It sounded like he was saying mama the other day when he was upset, but I couldn't get him to say it again, so I think it was just the sounds coming out at that time. He has started getting the microphone that goes with the Wii and walking around "singing". Every once in a while he will sing and dance at the same time! It is hilarious. I really think he is going to be like his daddy and big sister. He is already doing things just to make you laugh!

On Friday, Shawn got out his electric truck set from when he was a little boy. He set it up on the dining room table and worked for HOURS getting it running again! He looked on ebay and found several other trucks for it! Him, Karsan and Gunnar had quite a time playing with it! I tried to get him to take it down Saturday afternoon so we could eat our nice Valentine's dinner at the table, but instead of taking it down he just went in and played with it again. He found in the box a "ticket" that Amber had written to Cash. Super funny!!!!!!!!

NAME Cash I Diel

Limet was 551

You were running 552 1 mile over

I am giving you just

a worning

Do not do it again!

H.P.Cop NAME

Amber L Diel

We decided this year we would just make a nice Valentine's dinner at home. We knew we would be going out for lunch on Sunday with friends from church and that we would have small group that evening, so we decided to celebrate on Saturday. Karsan and I made chocolate covered strawberries on Saturday for small group. We had a blast and ate way too many while doing it!! We made plain chocolate, chocolate/pecans, chocolate/heart sprinkles, plain vanilla, vanilla/pecans, vanilla/red sprinkles and vanilla/Oreo cookies. For dinner we had ribeyes that Shawn grilled, roasted garlic herb potatoes, salad with Italian dressing and blue cheese crumbles and hot rolls. Everything was awesome! Shawn got me a dozen roses that are white with pink tips! He also carried on the tradition of getting Karsan a single rose! It is bright pink! They are all very pretty!!

See ya next week!

Weekly Wrap-up #4 & #5

Sooooooo, I have slacked with the weekly wrap-ups the last couple of weeks. I would say that things have been busy around here because that is what it feels like, but when I think back at what all has happened, I can't think of much!!!!

Karsan has been busy with school. She had a project due week before last. They were studying the Pony Express and she had to do a collage about how we get mail and news today. I should have taken a picture of it. It turned out really good. She had 9 pictures that we printed in black & white. We covered some poster board with scrapbook paper and she used letter stickers for the title. She also had to do a presentation about the pictures. I helped with the collage and Shawn helped with the presentation. It was awesome. She sounded so grown-up. She saw her teacher write down that she made a 100!!!! I am so proud of her. Last week, they had their 2nd grade music program. It was so cute!

Gunnar has started getting so excited when he sees animals. It doesn't matter what animal it is, he starts laughing and sometimes even screaming! He has a word for all animals. I can't describe it, but it is the same word every time. I think he is calling them all dog-dog. It is pretty funny! One day last week, he went and got a diaper and laid down in the middle of floor. He did it twice that day, and both timed he had pooed in his pants. I think he knows what is going on! He has started sleeping in late in the mornings. I try to make sure I wake him up by at least 9:30! He is just taking one nap a day, but it is usually at least 2 hours long!!! His hair is really growing now! He has tons of curls!! I just love it! He loves talking on the phone. Shawn gave Gunnar his phone the other day and then called it with mine. Gunnar was laughing and kept saying "da-da".

Shawn and I went out to eat the other night; just the two of us! We had a good time. We went to Wall Street Bar & Grill in downtown Midland. They have awesome steak. Shawn had a porterhouse and I had a ribeye. They served it with salad and house dressing. We got a side of sauteed mushrooms. I don't like mushrooms, but these are delicious! The food is really wonderful! We got a piece of cheesecake with chocolate and strawberries. Seriously, the cheesecake melts in your mouth!!!! I think I'm ready for another piece right now!!! The kids stayed with some friends of ours from church. They are really wonderful people and have made us feel very welcome in not only the church family, but their family as well.

Karsan and I went to Midland one evening a couple of weeks ago and had a Momma/Daughter evening out! We ate at Olive Garden and did Shawn's birthday/Valentine's Day shopping. For Shawn's bday, he got a new pair of square-toed boots from me and from Karsan and Gunnar he got a new Ariat shirt. We went ahead and gave him his Valentine's Day gift because we were so excited about them and didn't want to wait!! He got a new pair of TwentyX jeans and another Ariat shirt. He looks soooo handsome in his new clothes and boots! For my birthday/Valentine's Day, I got an Ipod Touch! I love it!!!! I downloaded a free grocery list application the other day and put my list on it for when I went to the grocery store. It was very handy!!!

For the last two Friday evenings, we have had game night with two other families from church. We have had a blast! We had it at our house last Friday night and I had so much fun making goodies to snack on. The other two families have kids, but they are all older than Karsan. They have been real good at accepting her in to the group. Three out of the four other kids are boys. The girl is a junior in high school, so she hasn't been coming to game night. The boys and Karsan have been having fun playing games and the Wii.

Weekly Wrap-up #3

So, Gunnar has been all about his John Deere hat this week! He really liked it before, but has been obsessed with it lately. I think he has finally decided he MIGHT want to talk. He will say "yes" and "eye". If you ask him if he has poopy pants, he will say yes (whether he does or not)! LOL!! If you ask him where his eyes are, he will point to them! He just seems to be doing so many new things lately. It is crazy. He is growing up so fast. He really likes to go "bye-bye". He is always running to the door wanting to go out!

We started our small group last Sunday evening at church. We are in a group that has alot of little girls around Karsan's age. We found out that one little girl, Kamry, plays softball. She is as crazy about it as Karsan is!!! They have become fast friends! Her mom and I are in the same Bunco group. Her dad is putting together a Select softball team and they are very interested in Karsan and would like her to join. They will start practicing here in a week or two. It will be just tournaments on the weekends. They have decided to mainly do local tourneys because of the girls' age. It can get really expensive if you have to travel every weekend and stay in hotels!! We are trying to save that until she gets a little older!!! The coach said the farthest he plans to travel is Lubbock. It is only about 2 hours away, so that won't be too bad! She is really excited. We had several nice days this week, so her and Shawn practiced hitting and throwing! I guess we won't be signing her up for basketball after all since it will conflict with the select tourneys. She wanted to play softball more than she did basketball, so it all works out!!! Friday was "Jump Rope for Heart" for the American Heart Assoc. at school. We went and watched Karsan jump rope during PE. She did really well. She had a blast!!!

Last Sunday was my birthday!! It was a wonderful day!!! Shawn and Karsan made me a pineapple upside down cake! It was delicious! We just hung out the rest of the day. It was nice and relaxing; just what I needed!!!! We are going to exchange gifts this weekend!

Have a wonderful week!!

Weekly Wrap-up #2

Yippie!!! #2!!!
Not much has been going on this week.

Karsan has been busy with school. They are having "Jump Rope for Heart", so they have been practicing jumping rope in PE all week. She was so excited yesterday because some other little girl told her she jumped like a pro! LOL!!! I think we are going to sign her up for YMCA basketball. They season is only 5-6 weeks and it will help get her in shape for softball. She came home with a conduct slip on Tues. for talking during Music class. She was so upset. A little boy in her class kept telling her that her mom was gay, so she was defending my honor telling him that I wasn't!!! Shawn and I both told her she should just ignore things like that; that he probably didn't even know what he was talking about. She said, "Yes, he did. He was saying your mom is gay because she kissed a boy!!" Shawn and I cracked up!!! It was so funny!!! She knows from now on to just ignore others who don't have anything nice to say.

Monday was Shawn's birthday. He turned 36!!! WOW!!!! Some friends from work took him, Gunnar and me out to lunch at The Barn Door. They have great food! We enjoyed it very much. We were both still so full from lunch that we just snacked for dinner. A friend from church, Joyce, brought over a pie for him. I am not really for sure what it was, but it was wonderful. It had chocolate and I think banana pudding with cool whip and nuts on top. It was yummy!!! I made him a taffy apple pizza last night. I had planned to make it for Monday, but I knew Joyce was bringing over something and the pizza gets yucky if it sits for too long in the fridge.

We went out to eat tonight for a combined birthday dinner. We went to Clear Springs Cafe in Midland. It was really good. They mainly serve catfish and different types of seafood with a Cajun spin. They claim to have the best onion rings in Texas! I don't know if they were the best, but they were definitely good!!

Gunnar is back to his old self! His sleeping pattern seems to be getting back to normal! That makes me very happy! His new favorite thing is to get his John Deere cap and walk around with it on his head. He will keep it on for quite a while. He looks so cute! He reminds me so much of his daddy!

Thanks for tuning in!!

On The Mend

Gunnar is FINALLY feeling better! We had a rough couple of weeks between cutting 6 teeth and a stomach bug. At one point I was concerned that he might be lactose intolerant. He had no appetite, was very clingy and wouldn't sleep in his own bed. I was really worried that after he started feeling better that he wouldn't want to sleep in his bed again, but it seems like he is getting back to normal. His appetite is back. He wants to eat ALL the time!!! He is happy and playing with his toys!! We are still having a little trouble at night...he is waking up two or three times, but he is soothing himself back to sleep. Yippie!!!

11, almost 12

That would be the number of teeth Gunnar has now!!! He went from having 6 right before Christmas to this. I noticed the other day that he had cut three of his four 1-year molars with the fourth almost through!!!! Maybe that would explain the upset stomach and him not sleeping well at night!

I sure hope he gets to feeling better soon!

Weekly Wrap-up #1

One of the things I want to accomplish with this blog is to keep everyone informed of what is going on with our family since we are so far away from everyone. So, I am going to try and do a weekly wrap-up each week! haha! I know you are all thinking, "Yeah, right!!! I bet this is the only weekly wrap-up we will see!!!!!!" Well....I am going to try and prove you all wrong!!!! So.....

Karsan started back to school this week. She is really glad to be back. I am really glad to be back into our normal routine!!!! She got her grades for her 2nd 9-weeks. Her overall core average was a 97!!!! We were very impressed to say the least! She has definitely settled in well at her school!!! We are so proud of her!

She is ready for softball to start. I think we are all! She is getting cabin fever pretty bad! It has been cold here the last week and she hasn't been able to play with her friends outside. Well, cold for west Texas!! :) I don't think it is anything compared to what all of you have been dealing with! We have seen snow 4 times already this winter. We haven't gotten more than an inch each time, but you would think we had been having blizzards with the way people here act!!!!

I think Gunnar has decided that he isn't going to talk. He definitely understands what you say, but he refuses to talk. I told him the other day to go get a diaper and her did!! Then he brought it back to me and ran off! He has decided he doesn't like to have his diaper changed! Also, Shawn and I were talking the other day and I mentioned that I needed to go brush my hair. Gunnar went in Karsan's bathroom, got her hairbrush and brought it to me! He is a smart little booger, but very ornery!!!!

Shawn is getting ready to start Phase 3 on his project. He will be doing 30-year title on all proposed routes. This should take about 6-8 months. He really likes it out here in "the desert"! He had been going and playing tennis with some friends from church on Sundays. They haven't been able to play the last couple of weeks due to the holidays and the cold weather. I think he is looking forward to going again!! He is getting involved at church. He has already led singing once and will be doing so again tomorrow evening. He also will be reading the scripture for the next couple of Sunday mornings!

I am getting ready to start online classes for Medical Coding. I am really looking forward to it!! It should take about 6 months. I should hopefully be able to work from home after that! I keep praying that it all works out. We have thought about putting Gunnar in a Mother's Day Out program for 2 days a week while I take these classes. I think it would be good for him. He doesn't do too well being separated from me, so maybe this would help a little!

I really feel that God is working in our family right now. I am very excited to see what this new year has in store for us!!

WOW...

Happy Boy!

Sweet Girl!

I am finally doing it! I am going to blog! Since we are so far from all of our family and a lot of our friends now, I thought it would be a good idea to do this so you can keep up with what is going on here in west TX!! I plan on posting pics of the kids and maybe even a few of Shawn and I as well ;) !!

I have been talking about this for a LONG time. Well, it's a new year!!!!! Many things are changing around our household and we would like to share them with all of you! I hope you will enjoy this adventure!!! Stay tuned!!