Sunday, January 24, 2010

Baby Makes Five

We are excited to announce we will be welcoming Lueker Baby #3 into our home around mid to late September of this year! We are all extremely excited!!!
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Reagan has actually been pretty adamant the last several months that she did not want any more younger siblings. You may recall back at Thanksgiving when I was trying to get her to perform for guests by naming a president name for a potential next baby after careful thought she announced "How about we've had enough babies?" You may also remember that when Tim and I explained baby Jesus would come when we put the last ornament on the Advent calendar she got quite upset and said she did not want any more babies! Having said all that, it was quite surprising to us a week before I even suspected I was pregnant she began telling us she "wanted a baby brother named Peanut." Now she has decided she wants a baby sister named McKinley (which she pronounces Kinley). Whether it's a brother Peanut or a sister Kinley we are very excited and pray for a healthy and happy baby to join our family this year!
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We wish we could have shared our exciting news with everyone in person! We were able to share the news with Grammy and Pop-A-Lops when they arrived for a visit Friday evening. Reagan requested they read her her new Berenstain Bears book "Baby Makes Five." I don't think Grammy and Pop-A-Lops heard how Reagan asked them which was "Surprise! Baby Makes Five" but they caught on pretty quickly and were very happy for us too! :)

Friday, January 22, 2010

Christmas in Wisconsin

As we've done the last couple of years the girls and I packed up with Grammy and Pop-A-Lops and headed north on December 26. This year we obviously didn't make a stop in Michigan since Grandma LaBar passed away in October, but instead headed directly to Wisconsin to visit Grandma Carlson. We stayed in Wisconsin for several days before Grammy and Pop-A-Lops dropped us off in Mount Olive New Years Eve where Tim drove in to meet us, again like we have done the last several years. We had a wonderful time with all the family we saw and hope everyone has had a wonderful start to 2010!
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A 4 Generation Girls picture with Great Grandma Carlson
Reagan decided to semi-cooperate in order to get a 4 generation picture which included her
Reagan helping Great Grandma open her Christmas gifts from us
Karoline, Ryan, Eleanor, Peter and Aunt Carla came to visit us on Monday. While they were there Reagan and Eleanor got out all of Reagan's prince and princesses. Karoline, who is super creative in everyway, set up all the dolls for the girls to look as if they were dancing together at a ball. How fun! She also managed to get them in a big circle dancing together and holding each others arms but I somehow missed getting a picture of that. :)
Kennedy getting some quality snuggle time with Pop-A-Lops
I don't remember the circumstances but one more morning at breakfast everyone decided to sit on Pop-A-Lops lap. What a bunch of silly girls! lol :)
On Tuesday Jodi came down from Herbster with Lily, Daniel and Sophia to spend some time with us. She and Aunt Carla also brought James and Benjamin over to play. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and appreciate the effort they made on our behalf! Here Reagan is reading a book to Sophia and Kennedy.
Reagan and Uncle Scott playing with princesses
Kennedy is fascinated by shoes, she loves them! Great Grandma's house was great for this as their are always lots of people there and they leave all their shoes by the door. What a great play area for a baby who can't get enough of shoes! lol :)
Wearing Reagan's shoes and looking for the next pair to try on
Playing "Ring-A-Round The Rosie" in Great Grandma's living room. This is so funny because everytime you fall down Kennedy works so hard to pull you back up. lol :)
Thank you to everyone for their hospitality and all the gifts for the girls during our travels! We need to start scaling back on gifts or start working on the girls college funds, however, or we're going to have to start looking for a larger house to accomodate all the toys! :) Thank you again to everyone in Wisconsin and Illinois as well as our chafeurs, Grammy and Pop-A-Lops, we enjoyed our time with all of you! :)

Snow and Sledding - Day 1

Our first afternoon in Wisconsin we decided to take advantage of all the snow. We had a great afternoon playing with lots of cousins! :)
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There is always a large pile of snow (this year ice because of the freezing rain on Christmas) piled up in the barnyard where paths have been cleared for the cars and farm equipment. It's always fun to climb up onto this big heep of snow and Reagan throughly enjoyed it this year! :)

Jared, Reagan and Lydia enjoying the snow together
Jared and Nathan helping Reagan navigate the pile of snow
Kage (5 1/2), Reagan (2 1/2), and Kolton (4 1/2) climbing on the snow together
These pictures are a little out of order because the first thing Reagan actually did when we got outside was to try out her new sled Santa gave her with a little help from Jared.
Kolton and Jeanna coming to join us with the green sled
Lydia pushing Reagan and Kolton down the hill while Jared and Kage watch
Jared being a good sport (and super awesome big cousin) and pulling Kolton and Reagan up the hill instead of making them get out and walk. :)
Reagan decided to try rolling down the hill instead of sledding
Reagan wasn't real sure about riding in the sled behind the 4-wheeler but she enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler with Nathan
Then she decided she'd try the sled out with me
Jared and Lydia taking a couple turns with the sled on the hill while the kids are busy with the 4-wheeler


Back to Reagan and me riding in the sled behind the 4-wheeler
Then we decided to let the boys have a turn with us. That didn't last long, however, as the boys said they were getting too squashed. That was okay with Reagan since she mostly enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler with Nathan.
While letting the boys take a turn with the green sled and 4-wheeler we headed back to the barn hill. After a little bit of experimenting, Reagan determined she could only go down on our sled with me and only if Lydia pushed us. Sometimes I think my daughter has a touch of OCD...



Nathan took Kage, Kolton and Reagan down the lane for a ride. When they left Reagan was sitting on the 4-wheeler with Nathan because she was still refusing to ride in the sled with the boys and without me. Somewhere along the way Nathan said she announced she was ready to get in the sled with Kage and Kolton and off she went! lol :)
Kage, Reagan and Kolton coming back from a good ride

Lydia, Jeanna and Jared checking out the kids sledding
Kolton and Reagan riding up the hill :)
Notice Reagan's hand dragging along side the sled. She loved this opportunity to collect snow to eat.
Such a sweet picture of such a sweet couple!!! Jared and Lydia - wedding date August 6, 2011 - we can't wait! :)
Reagan throughly enjoying her ride in the sled and opportunity to collect snow as she goes
Reagan off to save Lydia from those rough boys who were attacking her!
Reagan telling Lydia "You're my best friend!"
Making snow angels with Jared

We had so much fun with everyone in the snow! Thanks to everyone who came to play with us!!!

Snow and Sledding - Day 2

We made sure we went outside to play in the morning our second time out in the snow so Kennedy could come and enjoy it as well. She was a little unsure of herself but that had more to do with all the heavy clothing and boots she had on than the snow. She loved the sledding and kept at it for nearly 2 hours! :)
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Kennedy checking out her first real snow

Sitting in the snow together :)
Time for Kennedy to have her first sledding experience! She giggled and smiled all the way! :)
Then Reagan decided we should all three try sledding together and it actually worked better than I thought it would.
We made it in one piece to the bottom of the hill together! Hurray! :)
After sledding down the hill Reagan wanted to run over and "slide on the slick snow" aka ice
Down she goes!
After doing this a couple of times she whacked her head a bit hard and decided maybe it wasn't such a good idea...
I was a little nervous about sending Kennedy down the hill with just Kolton (4 1/2) and Reagan (2 1/2) but they all three managed to stay in the sled
Here Kennedy and I are racing Kolton and Reagan down the hill (notice Reagan's hand - the only thing you can really see of her sticking out behind Kolton - dragging in the snow in order to pick the snow up and eat it)
Here Reagan is throughly enjoying her snow which she had Kolton and Jeanna pile on her lap.
The only way we got Reagan to come in from playing in the snow either day was to get a cup of snow for her to continue eating once we got inside. Kennedy got to enjoy her own cup of snow the second day too. :)
Reagan showing off her most treasured cup of snow!
Thank you to Pop-A-Lops for coming out in the cold to get pictures and thank you to Jeanna and Kolton for coming out to play with us both days! :)