Mom, Dads, and a Milestone birthday!

We've had just a few things going on lately:)  Just a few:)  Dan got me a picture frame last year with the kids holding these letters to spell Mom.  The next collection of pictures is my attempt at getting my final shots to update it!

 I LOVE these pictures and think they are so precious.

 As you can tell getting a good shot of Kieran didn't work out so well, although he still looks pretty cute.  I ended up putting Svea in all of them and I'll frame a nice big picture of Kieran for my office next year.

 Father's Day we spent apart.  Dan had synod assembly and the kids and I headed to Jamestown since he was going to be gone anyway and my Dad had a big surgery on Monday in Bismarck. On Sunday Dan and I actually met in Moorhead to look at a few new houses.  That would be trip #5, but hopefully there won't be too many more.  XXXfingers! We showered Dad with a card, a gift, and plenty of hugs and kisses when we got home. My Dad's surgery went well and he is slowly recovering.  He can't bear any weight on his right hip/leg for six weeks so I'm sure it'll be a trying time.

 I'll need to update his photo album too now to spell the word DAD! We had a nice time in Jamestown!  I just love running around their yard and just being there:)  Thank you to my Mom and Ron (he is also recovering from surgery) for watching the kids for me when I looked at houses and visited my Dad in Bismarck.

 Speaking of, check out this fabulous Dad.  You know he's 40 now you know:) We also celebrated Dan's 40th birthday this past Wednesday.  In the chaos of our life it wasn't celebrated well, but I may still have something up my sleeve:)  I did, however, get a WIN with the birthday treats I made.  Just thinking about them will add calories to your body. In a muffin tin you put cookie dough, on top of that a full size Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and then on top of that chocolate brownie batter.  You bake them for about 20 minutes.  They were awesome! Happy Birthday Daddy...we love you so much:)

I love this picture of Dan and Svea.  He was taking her to the grocery store as she LOVEs to come with us. She was a little excited:) 

 

We still don't have a house yet, but we've got something worked out for Dan to stay somewhere until at least August 1st.  I'll stay in Jamestown with the kids and we are praying we can get into a house by then.  Extra prayers please.  We'd love to transition our kids just one time to the struggle of entering a new environment. We are trusting God that whether we rent for awhile or own that we will have a safe and happy place to call home.

Saying Goodbye to Our Friends

 Here is what most of our summer nights look like at our house. Jayley and Brody from next door come over and we ride bikes, do chalk, and run up and down the sidewalks.  If we aren't outside then they are usually standing in our window talking to the kids while sitting on the rock outside.

 The kids are really going to miss them.  Especially Svea.  She looks up to Jayley (she's 5) and Kieran has a bromance with Brody.

Oh, our little ham!

 We are really sad.  They are great neighbors and we have gotten to know and have a great relationship with their parents Eric and Trish.  We went from never talking to them to hanging out multiple times a week.  They are great kids and we've been so thankful for them.

 The kids' and I went over to Lynda's house today to say goodbye to all of their friend at daycare.  I don't think they understood that it was a goodbye and I didn't elaborate too much.  Right next to Svea is Peyton (her best friend), and Mason.  She's been with Mason from the beginning.  Then the baby in the bouncer is Karsee and Addy and Brock are in the back. 

 Lynda's house has been a real blessing to us.  I remember asking and then knowing that our unborn  baby was going to get to go to her house.  I was so thankful and having both of our kids' there has been so wonderful for them!

 We're nervous about the next daycare they will go to.  Svea and Kieran have never hesitated at the thought of going to Lynda's.  She's patient and calm, fair and gentle.  She teaches the kids about God, sharing, and having an inside voice:)  We are so sad to say Goodbye.  We love you Lynda!  Thank you for being such a positive influence on our kids!  (Kieran is crying because we tried to get him to sit still). Ha!

Big Changes

We have some big changes coming up for our family.  Over a year ago Dan came across and heard about a church in Moorhead, MN that was going to be needing a senior pastor.  He had some really neat moments where he actually felt this push from God that this was something he needed to look further into.  We didn't know the why, but we knew if it turned out or didn't that for some reason he was supposed to travel down this path.  Fast forward to right after Christmas and Dan was preparing his paperwork.  It was hard to put it in because we are happy here and things are going well at the church.  I love my job and we have wonderful daycare.  I wasn't super invested in it or kind of removed myself a bit, but remained supportive.  I guess you could just say that we were just "open".  I can't think of another word to describe it. 

Dan got a Skype interview and he really clicked with all of the people on the call committee.  We still remained hopeful yet calm and content with whatever happened.  When he got called for a second interview is when things started feeling real.  I'll spare you all of the long details, but we traveled as a family to N.D. and stayed in Jamestown and Fargo while he went through the interviews.  Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd called Dan on April, 16th and offered him this role as senior pastor.  He is very humbled, nervous and excited.  You can also say that for me as well. 

Since then things have been a blur, but not overly stressful.  Things so far have just fallen into place.  I got a job, we sold our house by owner, and now just this morning officially got a house as well. God is so good and amazing.  He made all of these things gently fall into place one by one.  We told our current congregation a few weeks ago and then shared the news with Svea.  Overall she is doing well with it.  She says she doesn't want to say goodbye to her friends and I'm sure we'll have many more days now and after we've moved of some tears.  We keep inviting her to talk about it and share those feelings whatever they are so that when she is sad or mad she feels like she can talk about it. We also bought a cute book about a cat who has to move to a new town and that's really helped.  Some thoughts from Svea on this move.....

 -our new house will have a lot of windows

-concern for Meeko as to how is he going to get there without a seatbelt

-I don't want to say good-bye to my friends/then wanted to be held and cuddled on the couch (break my heart:(

-But, we will make new friends

-We can walk to Gaga's house now:)

Kieran seems to not understand, but we'll eventually talk more about it especially when he is immersed in boxes and we can explain to him what is going on.  Dan's last Sunday at PLC is June 29th and his last day of work is July 3rd.  We close on our Paynesville house July 16th and close on our Moorhead house on July 18th.  We are incredibly thankful that we'll have a home to move right into!  Dan will have a little over two weeks off and then he'll start at Good Shepherd on July 22nd.  His installation will be in August sometime.  
We've been praying for our current congregation (I cried like a baby when Dan announced that we were leaving/they've been like family to us), and for our future congregation and how we'll blend with them, for a smooth transition, for our families as this brings change (positives and negatives), and finally that we remember to let God lead our path.  We can very much feel God's hand on our backs leading us to Moorhead. I pray that he reveals to us early on that yes, this is where we are supposed to be.  So far we really feel it:)

22 Months Old

Clothes:You wear 12 or 18 month shorts and 18 month shirts. You are in 18 month pajamas and you are a peanut little boy!
Shoes: Size 4
Diapers: Size 5 diapers all of the time.  We ran out of 4's, but had 5's for nighttime.
Sleep: You sleep from about 8:00-8:30 until 8:00-8:30 the next morning. You are a very good nighttime sleeper and actually overall.  You still can take up to a 3 hour nap, but it's usually 1.5/2 hours.  Occasionally in the last month you cry when we leave you to go to sleep, but literally for 5 seconds and then you are done.

Teeth: I think 14.  You don't let me look in your mouth very often, but I'm pretty sure.  You have two of your 1 yr. molars and have two more coming in.
Traveling: We didn't do any traveling this month.  We've been enjoying our time at home though:)Talking: You speak gibberish with a few words that you can say quite clearly. One day you won't say a word we know you know, the next time you say it and it's hard to understand, and then the next time you say it so clearly your Dad and I get the "O" face and say, "Did you just hear that"!  So you still show signs that you will be just fine in the talking department.  Your hearing loss is always at the back of our minds and we try to monitor things closely just in case it starts causing you trouble with communication.  So far so good:) 
Favorite Songs: You like to sing your ABC's.  We can make out just a few letters, but you have the tune down and you will sign this to yourself when you are waking up in your crib in the morning.

 

Favorite Activity: You LOVE to play outside, be read to and read to us, explore new things, and wrestle your sister.  She hates it, but if you are in the right mood and she is even remotely laying on the floor you dive right in and laugh and smile and she screams for help!  It's quite funny! You've learned the word ball and you like to play with that in the backyard.  Now that it's warm enough we've been playing with the water table a lot and love it.  We've started up walks again and you hardly say boo.  You love to sit and watch and seem to enjoy them a lot.
Favorite Books: I really can't say that you have a favorite.  You'll be into a couple and then three days later it's a new couple of books that you love. We'll start going to the library again now that Mom is done with school.  I'm excited to see your reaction to it.

 

Favorite Foods: You love peanut butter, cheese, and nanas!  You would eat a banana every hour of the day if we let you! 
Foods Dislike: It's a struggle.  You are still quite picky! There are a lot of veggies that you just don't eat.  If we give you something and can get you to at least try it you get a sour face and spit it right back out.  When you get frustrated with the food on your tray and are done with being in your highchair you'll start flinging food off of either side.

Dislikes: You don't like being in your highchair.  You want to be a big boy and sit up at the table with your sister, but I can't always get you to sit down and you'll start dancing on our very high chairs!!  Almost there though.  We had your sister in the booster chair by this age, but you are so strong and so wiggly that we are afraid you'll topple the whole chair. You hate coming in from outside and you cry and scream.  For a couple of weeks you were biting Mommy anytime that you had to do something that you didn't want to do.  Ouch!  Only me though, so we were thankful for at least that. When you don't like things you sure do know how to let us know.  You are a loud little boy and will scream at us. We ask you a lot to not scream:)

 

Favorite Word: I'd say it was no, but you've started to say the word yes!  Yeah!  It's fun to hear that.You don't really have a favorite word that you repeat over and over.  We do get you to repeat a few more words for us, but you aren't super into it.  When you repeat "I love you" it's like music to our ears:)
Things we are learning: How to take off some of your clothes. You still need a little help.  You know how to work the remote, how to steal paci's from your crib, and you've gotten really good at pointing to things while we read. It goes either way whether we ask you to point to something or you point to it and want to know what it is. You can say A when trying to say your ABC's. You know quite a few body parts and you love people.  You are soaring in the people skills department.  Anyone that we see on the sidewalk or wherever you give them a big HIIII!  When new people come to the door you come running with a huge smile on your face.  When they leave you love giving big hugs. You are just a sweet sweet little boy!

Mr. Kieran-you light up our life.  We could just stare at you all day and watch you learn and grow.  You are funny, silly, stubborn at times, sweet and caring.  One thing that makes our hearts melt is when your sister gets hurt, you sprint to her side to give her a hug.  It's so neat to see compassion in such a little boy.  We are proud of you.  We love you!