Baseball Players

Last night we had some students over from Southern Wesleyan Univ (SWU) which is a few minutes from our house, that Kevin has gotten connected to. Included in the group were 5 baseball players who came straight from practice. Krieg was so excited about having some real baseball players over, that all night during dinner he kept asking when they would be done eating so they could come play with him...

They were most impressed by his array of different pitches thrown at them. He even managed to strike a few out!

Spoons

Karis is still holding out on the feed-myself decision she made 2 weeks ago, but this morning decided that the rule also applied to applesauce (with pumpkin) that I had still previously been able to feed her. She was actually pretty good at making it into her mouth. The ironic part is that she is 10 months and desperately wanting to feed herself applesauce, while her brother, almost three, would much prefer me feed it to him!

10 Month Firsts

So apparently Karis decided that when she turned 10 months old, some things should change.

• She finally got some teeth. Her two bottom front teeth emerged, but you can only tell if you stick your finger in there, or get her laughing real hard.
• She has boycotted eating anything with a spoon- unless she physically sees me pouring applesauce into the bowl (little does she know there is already acorn squash in there!)
  
• Which has meant lots of new finger foods, including meatballs, mac and cheese, turkey meatloaf, a slew of veggies and LOTS of bananas. I have to hide the bananas, b/c she will scream endlessly if she sees them and I don't give her one!
• Standing up unassisted for long periods of time
• Throwing balls-thank you new ball pit- and they only go about 2 inches, but it's the effort that counts. As you could guess, I am really praising and encouraging this one!
• Taking her first steps today- 2 little ones at 2 different times! I give her a few weeks before walking becomes the mode of transportation, but it's coming!

Life keeps getting more exciting with this one- and a little more scary for me, as I see her little adventuresome, rebellious personality coming out! She is going to be a handful to keep up with, but we sure do love her!

Growing Affection

I love watching Krieg and Karis learn to love and play with each other- it has to be one of my favorite things. Krieg can be the most tenderhearted little guy sometimes! And naturally, Karis loves doing whatever Krieg is doing. (These days, it is mostly playing in our hand-me-down ball pit!)

Dodgeball

To kick off the start of the semester, we had our Clemson staff team over for our first weekly dinner. Thanks to Nick's neice, we also have a new ball pit for the kids to play in. The combination of our staff and 250 or so balls yielded a ridiculous game of dodgeball in our living room, with Krieg right in the middle- being pelted with balls, and chucking them right back. I so wish I had this on video, but hopefully you can get an idea from the pictures....


Take note of Krieg's face in this one...Kevin and I decided later that we had never seen Krieg have this much fun. He got smacked in the face a few times and without any hesitation, would just bend down and pick up another ball to throw. It was hilarious!

Xmas pictures

My wonderful sister sent us some pictures from Christmas at her house. Here are a few favorites...

Uncle Jeff and Kevin got a fire going so we could make smores. Despite the face, Krieg loved them!

Do you think Krieg loved playing with Uncle Jeff, or what??

Watching eagerly for their dog Hunter to return

Alexandra Susan Bristow- Graciously choosing to make her arrival while we were at her house- what a beauty!!

keeping up

Where to begin catching up from our whirwind Christmas/New Years travels...for starters, the downer that we have NO good pictures to document our adventures. (I am banking on my sis coming through with at least one!)

Better than pictures this year was a few fun, gracious surprises that God sent our way. We spent Christmas in DC with my sister and brother in law who were expecting their 1st baby on Jan 6th. And surely since Krieg and I had been praying for months that God would let us meet her, he did! Little Alexandra Susan made her appearance while we were still at their house, a week and a half early! It was so fun to be a part of her entrance into the world. And because Alexandra was born, my parents made a special surprise appearance too! She is a beautiful little baby, and hopefully I can steal a few pictures to post soon. The kids only got to meet her for a few minutes since we left their house about an hour after they got home from the hospital, but I got a good hour of snuggling in at the hospital!

I think more than any of their presents this year, Krieg and Karis' favorite thing at Christmas was my sister's dog, Hunter. Krieg was convinced that Hunter was his personal play mate, and Karis crawled around chasing him constantly. The poor dog was so tired by the end of each day.

Then after we said goodbye to my family, we headed across town to our CO New Years Conference with 500 college students. God was incredibly gracious to our family in making it a smooth conference for the kids in the midst of chaos and all sleeping in the same room. We discovered Krieg sleeps just like Kevin-straight through EVERYTHING! Crying, lights on, maids coming in, you name it.
As crazy as it is lugging both kiddos up there for 5 days, it is so worth it for me to just be around the conference to watch what all God is doing in so many students lives. I am so grateful for our calling to build laborers at Clemson!
Now back to normal life!