Our Firstborn

Brett, just 3 short weeks ago, you turned 11 years old.  Eleven!  I can hardly believe that.  You just completed the fourth grade, and at the end of August you will be starting MIDDLE SCHOOL.  What?! 

You are such a great kid.  You normally get along very well with your brothers.  There are days that you guys fight (like brothers do), but I love that all of you are such good friends.  You LOVE sports.  Almost any kind.  I think you could play catch (with either a baseball or a football) 24/7.  I don’t know if you will play sports as you get older – but for now, you just love watching & playing almost anything. 

You love to hang out with your friends – so I think that although you love summer vacation, you kind of miss school because you want to see your friends.  You also like to spend family time.  I hope that you always like that! 

You are kind of a picky eater, but there are a few things you like to eat.  (pizza, casserole, potato soup, nachos, bacon cheeseburgers, …)  Seriously, we feel so blessed to be your parents. 

Our prayer for you is that you will always love Jesus and follow Him all the days of your life.  We know that God has big plans for you, and as sad as it makes me to think of how fast things are going, I am so excited to watch you grow and to see what you will become!!

                     

So happy (belated) birthday, buddy.  We hope that you always know how much we love you!

Summer is in full swing…

Hey, I’m back!  It has sure been a while since I’ve posted anything, but here I am.  Clearly, I have missed a lot of important things since the last time I posted.  I will maybe try to get to some ‘catch up’ posts together, but for now I just wanted to a post.  So, I picked to write about summer.  (that’s just the only word I could think of that will let me make a “hodge-podge” post)

Brett and Trevor both just wrapped up a month of baseball.  They had so much fun.  It’s a summer rec program, so it’s not tournament games or anything.  They had a blast though.

It was definitely a busy month, Trevor had games on Mon & Wed, and Brett played on Tues & Thurs. 

We ended one month and started another… We celebrated the beginning of July with a weekend of camping.  And, oh my, the weather was FANTASTIC!

 

I didn’t take many pictures – I wish I would have taken more. Bummer.  It was a weekend filled with relaxing in the sun (or shade), bike rides, campfires (and S’mores!), bubbles, kiddie pools, bean bag toss, water balloons, etc.

We took the camper home on Monday, and then Matt & I went with Phil, Wendi and Jed for a motorcycle ride.  It was a great ride!  My butt was a little sore because that’s the farthest I’ve ridden – and the back seat of Matt’s back is not very “cushy” :)  But it was SOOOO nice out, and Phil planned out the route, and we had mostly great roads.  The exception was Hwy 10 on the way home.  Talk about bumpy!!  Oh well, still a really great afternoon.  Couldn’t have happened if mom wasn’t willing to take the kids on short notice.  She is so awesome – I don’t know what we’d do without her.  She is awesome – and I’m so glad that the kids love to go there!

We ended up finishing up the weekend watching the town fireworks.  The kids were very tired by the end of the weekend … so everyone was ready for bed when we got home. 

Okay, was that enough randomness for one post?!?  :)  I suppose I will leave it there for now, and hopefully I will be back soon :)  

Christmas time is here. . .

Christmas is THIS Saturday and I can hardly wait!  I’m not necessarily “ready” for it – there are some presents to wrap, some presents to buy, some food to make, etc. but somehow that stuff all gets done in time.

What a great season to celebrate the birth of our King!  What an amazing sacrifice He made to come down from Heaven for US!  I hope this is the thing that my kids will always associate with Christmas.  Yes, we love Santa and Christmas lights and opening presents from under the tree – but Christmas really is only about Jesus. 

This season is also one that makes me miss … him.  Dad – I think of you every single day (but you already know that).  I’m sure I can’t even imagine what a wonderful time you are having in Heaven.  LOVE you!

(I just have the most adorable parents … best ever!  I hope that I can be to my kids a fraction of the example that these two people have been to me.)

Let the celebrations begin!   MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Making up for lost time

Okay, it seems that I’ve forgotten how to blog.  Actually, I have so much to update that I don’t know where to start.  And so then I just don’t post anything. (doesn’t make much sense huh?)

So … ummm … what have we been up to?

We took the kids trick-or-treating for Halloween.  Trevor  and Juli were ghosts, and Eli was Superman.  Brett actually didn’t go trick-or-treating, but instead went to the Hallelujah Party.  That is something that’s put on by Bridge of Hope church.  He went with a friend and had a great time!  Everyone got plenty of candy, that is for sure.  -  I don’t have pictures handy of Halloween, but maybe soon. *snicker* :)

In November, we took Brett & Trevor to Minneapolis for a little weekend away.  We got to Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon and checked in to our hotel.  We walked to the train station (which was by the Metrodome) and took the train to the Mall of America.  Wow – what a sight – SO many people!  We were there for a couple of hours and then took the train back.  I forgot to take my camera there though, so –again- no pictures.  :(

The hotel was hosting a tailgate party that night since it was a game weekend, so we went back there and watched some college football and had brats, burgers, hot dogs and nachos.  Brett & Trevor put the hotel pool to good use too.  We relaxed in the hotel all night on Saturday and watched “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. 

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, and then got ready to go to the dome for our first ever NFL game.  They had some concerts and other events going on outside before they let the fans in to find their seats.  The weather was amazing … especially for MN in November!  We were able to walk around without bundling up – this was a huge plus to not have to carry all kinds of coats, hats, gloves, etc. along with us. 

It was a very exciting game.  The Vikings were down by 14 points to start the 4th quarter, and ended up winning by 3 points in overtime.  Even though we were watching the Vikings and not the Bears – we still had a really great time. 

We are so blessed that Grandma Langstraat was willing to watch Eli for the weekend.  He had a great time with her (and I’m pretty sure she enjoyed it too).  We were very anxious to get back to pick him up though – we definitely missed him!  (Although I don’t think he would have really enjoyed the game … or the driving … very much)

Below are a few pictures of our weekend.

(Holy cow – it just took me forever to make that collage.)  :)

Anyway, I just thought I’d do a quick update in order to remind myself that once upon a time I started a blog. 

And maybe I will maybe do more collages so that I get better (and faster) at it.  Good idea?  Yes?

A Motorcycle, Football & Pumpkins

Okay, does that title give you the hint that this post will be one of those that’s all over the place?  (remember the last post when I mentioned going back and forth?  this is a continuation of that game) :)

After posting the first picture of Matt’s bike, he thought I should put a better picture up -  so here is his new toy… it needs a name yet – he should work on that.

                               

Matt has wanted a bike for a long time now, and he is getting a lot of use out of this already.  I love to see that he’s having fun with it!

Here are some more pictures that I’ve been meaning to post for a while.  This was Brett’s first year of playing football.  It’s a league football (not sponsored by city rec).  He had a blast playing, even though his team didn’t win any games.  They have plenty of time to learn the plays and get the wins … but for now, it’s all about having fun and learning to LIKE the game!  (Brett was #11 and his main positions were tailback, tight end, safety and corner)  Eli also wanted to test out the pads and the jersey … he might have a little bit of growing to do. ha!

                                               

     

                   

The same day of Brett’s last game (the playoffs), we also went camping to Newton Hills.  Brett was a little bummed to miss a lot of the day on Saturday – but hopefully we can go again next year.  They do a “Festi-Fall” – most people who camp decorate their campsites and carve pumpkins to display.  We had a great time camping.  The Fall weather was bea-u-ti-ful!!  So fun!  We had campfires, carved the pumpkins, played sand volleyball, went to the festival, did a candle-light walk, and just had a really great time! 

                    

How Forever Feels…

Let’s all just go ahead and think of this blog like a tennis match.   Back and forth … current stuff then backwards to catch up.  Then back to current stuff and backwards again.  :)

This post is dedicated to my awesome husband!!

Last week Matt & I celebrated our 15th anniversary - on Sept. 9.  It was a great day! We are normally not the type to do “big” stuff for our anniversary, but this year  Matt sent me 15 BEAUTIFUL red roses at work – and I gave him 4 tickets to a MN Vikings game.  (we surprised each other … and it worked for both of us!)

We ended up going out for supper Friday night because my mom was very sweet and offered to watch Eli & Trevor (Brett was overnight at a friend’s house). 

We are both just so grateful to God for blessing us with 15 years of wedded bliss so far – and we pray for many, many more years together.  We are so happy to be the parents of 3 precious little boys.  Even though we live simply (but dream big!), we know that we have so much more than we deserve!

So … here’s to us, Matt.  I love you so much more than I could put into words.  Can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us! 

And … since Brent & Kelli, Mike & Pat, and Phil & Wendi all celebrated anniversaries within the last month – the happy anniversary wishes go out to them too!

Love,

Kristi

Birthdays Galore!

Okay, so I’m not a very good blogger so far.  :(  So even though it’s September already, I’m going to blog about August (and there are probably a couple more August posts that need to happen yet … I just have to get better at this first)  :)

August is a pretty crazy month for us.  We have lots of family birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate.  Here are a few tidbits about the occasions.

Trevor … you turned 8 this year.  What?!  All I did is blink, and you went from being a little boy to a 2nd-grader.   What are you up to these days? 

• You are becoming quite the little water bug.  You and Brett both took swimming lessons this year and you love to swim now.  (Thanks, Kiley!) 
• You constantly want to spend time at Wendi’s house playing with Juli.  I’m so glad you guys are such good friends!
• You never, ever want to clean anything up at home … it is like pulling teeth to get you to work around the house.  You are a pro at getting “distracted” and forgetting that you were supposed to be working.  On the plus side, Eli gets to spend lots of time with you when you will help by watching him instead of cleaning. ;)
• You love to watch anything on Disney channel or Nickelodeon. 
• You are a wonderful combination of sweetness, mischief and stubbornness. And your dad and I love you exactly the way you are. 

 

Eli … you are THREE!  Again – I have no idea how the last 3 years went by without me noticing.  As much as I wish I could go back to the days when you were a tiny baby, I also wish I could bottle you up the way you are now.  

• Not sure how much you weigh or how tall (or short) you really are, but we’ll have your 3-year checkup soon and then we’ll see those numbers.  (guessing you’re somewhere around 27 lbs though)
• You are NOT interested in potty training yet, but hopefully you’ll be learning that at daycare in the near future. 
• Because you hate the idea of potty training, you are in a size 4 diaper. 
• You love it when Brett & Trevor play with you … you think you’re just as big as they are.
• You love to give me hugs and kisses when I drop you off at daycare.  I usually let you give me as many as you want. :)
• You sleep like a champ … once you finally go to sleep.  We don’t always “make” you go to bed.  Lots of times you fall asleep by me or dad in the living room and then we put you in your bed.  A lot of people probably think it’s a bad idea because it doesn’t teach you a good routine.  But I wouldn’t trade it for anything – we love hanging out with you at night – the time is precious!  (we always did the same thing with your brothers too – so it seems to be okay)
• We can’t wait to see all of the new things you’ll learn over the next year (and I’m sure that year will go too fast as well).  Dad and I love you so much … more than we could say. 

Matt … well, let’s just say that you’re … older.  And – you bought your own birthday present.  :)  I know that the picture is pretty terrible, but I just needed to snap a quick one so that I could finally put up this post that has been sitting in drafts for..um..ever.  Maybe I’ll put a better one up soon.

• You finally went out and bought one of the things that you’ve wanted for a LONG time.  I’m hoping that you will get lots of use out of this.  (side note: for now, I like riding with you in town a lot more than the open road … guess I need some more practice runs … OR … you need to get a windshield on that thing)
• Brett, Trevor, Eli and I just all love you so much and hope this is your best year yet!