5.23.11 beach - putt putt

We love to play putt-putt at the beach and feel that any beach trip must include this tradition.  We started when we were first married and have continued until our first family of 3 beach trip when Caleigh was only 7 months old and we are still going strong.  Although I am aware that one day it will be outrageously expensive for us all the play... we'll tackle that bridge when we get there.

 How do you help a lefty hit the ball when you are a righty?  It's very challenging...

 Andrew enjoyed all of it - especially whacking things with his club and jumping off the obstacles...

 We'll have to work on his form...

Maybe not the golfer of the family?  Yes, Caleigh, you must learn at a young age - golfing is so frustrating sometimes -

 Mostly because she is such a typical first child - people pleasing perfectionist that she is she really wanted to get it right (as she does with most things).

5.20.11 post dinner playtime

 "cheese"

 the fish face that we've been seeing so much of lately -

5.18.11 the end of the school year

It's the end of the school year for Caleigh and everything is wrapping up at once.  She finished up her semester long gymnastics class which she loved and really learned a lot in - like how to tumble well and she finally got up some courage to jump in the cheese pit (big foam pit) from the trampoline by herself without the teacher holding her hand.  A big milestone for her for sure.

 Can't believe how much longer and thinner her legs have gotten since this picture was taken - she looks like a baby to me in the pictures!

 Caleigh's preschool year wrapped up this week to - well, actually next week but we are headed to the beach.  We have LOVED her teachers this year - they were such a blessing to us - and Caleigh loved school.  Can't believe it is over already!  Caleigh and Ms. Judy -

 Ms. Beverly and Caleigh -

5.8.11 park pics

Enjoying these last days of spring.

 Mommy likes to play too.

 Me and my mini-me.

 The double swing... the ultimate in fun.

5.5.11 messy yogurt face

Love those clear blue eyes - but seriously... how does an almost 2 year old get SO messy... all in his hair, etc... So different from my sweet clean particular Caleigh!

daddy's boy

Andrew and his daddy.  Andrew is going through a MAJOR daddy phase.  He wakes up in the morning and from naps saying, "daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy."  He only wants Adam to hold him.  He always wants to, "match daddy" (like with their matching boat shoes or matching sunglasses).

Can you see now, daddy?

Who? Me? I'm not doing anything...

I love these pictures of my boys.  I love that Andrew so loves his daddy and I am so thankful for Adam, that he is such a good daddy to this sweet little guy.

5.2.11 chalk

girls and boys

On the way to church this morning Caleigh said, "Mommy, Andrew likes bugs... and he likes trucks...  I like rainbows, and purple, and birdies."

Caleigh hit the nail on the head - Caleigh and Andrew are total opposites.  I love seeing such innate gender differences between Caleigh and Andrew.

Andrew loves all things boy - he is SUCH a boy which I am so thankful for and I so much adore - he loves balls, throwing things (which he is actually really good at - kid's got an arm), being loud, squashing bugs and picking up beetles and throwing them (at me - EW!), jumping off of stuff.  He does like books a lot right now - some of his favorites being Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon and Little Gorilla.  He hates being groomed - haircuts, cutting fingernails or toenails, brushing teeth - dislikes it all.  Although he is such a boy I am so thankful that he is also so sweet, so tender (at times) - he loves us and he loves his sister.  I am thankful that by God's grace we haven't had any hitting or biting issues at all or seen anything aggressive from him.  He is strong-willed and wants to get his way and gives a hilarious grouchy face when he doesn't or when he is disciplined (which makes it very difficult not to laugh when I am supposed to be disciplining him).  He is polite and becoming so verbal.  My sweet almost 2 year old boy.

Caleigh is such a girls' girl - so so girly which is an experience for me as I was such a tom-boy growing up.  She is so affectionate and so naturally nurturing.  She loves to come up and say, "I want to give you a big hug" or "Let me just give you a kiss real quick."  She is such a sweet sweet girl.  She loves babies, clothes - mostly dresses - I can hardly get her to wear anything else... she loves to help cook, she loves drawing and crafts and puzzles.  She likes quiet toys and LOVES books.  I love catching her with Andrew sitting in her lap and her reading to him.  She is so compassionate - genuinely caring so much about others.  She loves being groomed (unless you are washing or brushing her hair) - she loves haircuts and getting her fingernails and toenails painted.  She loves to dress up in high heels.  She talks all the time, though we have started speech therapy to work on pronunciation.  She is such a girly girl and we are so thankful for this sweet 3 and 1/2 year old.

So thankful for these sweet kids and the joy that it is to parent them.

4.25.11 dress shopping

Sweet Caleigh dress shopping with Marcy and I for the big day. Woohoo! Come on and get here September 24th!

4.23.11 easter morning

Happy Easter!  I love Easter and celebrating our risen Savior.  I love the tradition of the week, the church services leading up to Easter Sunday.  I love all the talk of Jesus and how even my non-Christian friends are thinking about God during that time of year.  I loved celebrating Easter this year with the kids - Caleigh is really starting to understand the meaning of Easter.  Literally every time we got in the car she would want to talk about the story of Jesus dying on the cross, being put in the tomb, sealed with the stone, then the stone rolled away, the women seeing the angel who told him that, He is risen!  I love how every time we would talk about it she would shout the last part - what the angel said, "He is not here. He is risen!"  And every time after we finished the 10 minute long discussion she would say, "Mommy, I want to talk about it again."  I am so thankful for her sweet heart, and to see how God is already softening her heart toward Him in giving her a desire to know more and more about Him.  Oh the things God teaches me through my kids - (especially convicting me as I had to confess that sometimes after the 3rd time of discussing the Easter story that day I really didn't want to do it again).  

I had been trying to decide for a while whether or not to start the tradition of Easter baskets with the kids - I decided to do them and we talked briefly about the Easter bunny (literally only briefly on Sunday morning).  I continued my mom's tradition of using flour to make little bunny footprints leading up to the baskets.  When we would ask Caleigh about the Easter baskets she would say, "the big rabbit brought it to me," which really made me laugh.

I love the idea of doing little gifts on Easter but in my mind I can't think of a good way to tie it into the true meaning of Easter.  With Christmas I think of giving gifts because we love each other in the same way that God gave us the gift of his Son on Jesus because he loves us.  With Valentines Day I think of celebrating our love for each other because, "God demonstrates his own love in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8).  I guess I could use either one of these with Easter as well.  It just seemed strange to have spend 2 weeks and especially the week of Easter talking over and over about Jesus' death and and resurrection (with Caleigh especially) and then to wake up on Sunday morning - the day that Jesus rose - and talk about bunny rabbits.  Just seemed strange.  I don't know that we will be doing it again next year.  I would love if anyone has any advice about this.  But we had a great Easter morning - the kids loved their little gifts and I loved picking them out for them in the days and weeks leading up to Easter.

We went to church and snapped to obligatory family Easter pic -

outtakes...

 "Caleigh, put your arms around Andrew and smile." Caleigh = so obedient and compliant, see below. Andrew = get your arms off of me.

 If only he would have looked up...

Happy Easter!
"He is risen."
"He is risen, indeed!"

4.22.11 uptown easter egg hunt

listening to the Easter story...

 on your mark, get set, ....

 go!

4.16.11 first egg hunt of the season

Indoor egg hunt (due to rain) at Christ Covenant - my parents took them and they had a blast and got a TON of eggs.  They loved it and our house has been an explosion of empty Easter eggs ever since.

Curtis Carroll Jack Kemmer

We found out over the weekend that Adam's grandfather, Curtis Carroll Jack Kemmer (whom Andrew is named for) passed away on Saturday.  It was not totally unexpected as he was 88 years old and in recent months his health was failing.  We flew up today to Columbus, Ohio to join the rest of Adam's family and too celebrate the life of Jack with a ceremony on Thursday.  (The kids first flight!)  Adam, and his brother Jon, and his cousin Nathan were all asked to speak briefly at the funeral and to be palbearers for the military burial.  Adam was asked to speak about Grandpa in regards to war and I love these sweet words that he is planning to say to honor his Grandfather at the funeral.

"Grandpa contained a wealth of knowledge.  One of his favorite things to do was to tell stories with us.  He would tell stories of the farm, family and just life.  Some of his best and most captivating stories were from his time in the Army during World War II.  Being part of and a veteran of World War II was something that truly defined Grandpa and his character.  It made him into the man he was until the day he passed.  He was abundantly proud of his heritage and service to this nation which we are all grateful for.  Grandpa was a member of the US Army and served in the Pacific.  He was a part of one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the battle of Okinawa.  This battle featured the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific.  The goal of the allies was to use Okinawa as their base for air operations for a planned invasion of the Japanese mainland (that ultimately was not needed).  The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific theater during World War II.  Japan lost over 100,000 troops and the Allies suffered over 50,000 casualties.  The battle lasted 82 days and just weeks after it ended, the Japanese surrendered.  As a result of his bravery and honorable service, Grandpa was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.  He is a hero to all of us, especially to me.  I cannot begin to fathom the strength and courage necessary to be in the military and go to war, but I do know what the source of his strength was.  Psalm 144:1-2 says, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle; He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”  Grandpa went to war, not on his own strength, but relying on the strength of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I will never know the strength and courage it took for Grandpa to go to war.  But I will never forget what he taught me through his life.  Because of all this we wanted to honor Grandpa by naming our son after him, Andrew Curtis Dyer.  We named him Andrew because in Greek, Andrew means “manly, warrior, courageous, and strong”.  Grandpa was all of these.  We named him Curtis after Grandpa, Curtis Carroll Jack Kemmer.  Grandpa loved meeting and spending time with his namesake.  He preferred to call him Curt.  Also, before Andrew’s hair grew in, they looked remarkably alike.  My prayer is that Andrew would also be like his great grandfather, strong and hard-working - that he would persevere through adversity and not give up.  I pray that he would find his strength not in his own abilities or wisdom but only in Christ, just as Grandpa did.  Grandpa was a great man and one of my heroes.  I pray that his legacy lives on in our son Andrew.

4.13.11 first flight

And the kids did remarkably well!  It was a short 1 hr and 15 min flight up to Columbus, Ohio. Andrew was loud, loud, loud. Happy definitely, but so loud. Caleigh was hilarious. On takeoff we hit some turbulence and she was in my lap on the aisle of a 2 person row; there was a single middle aged man sitting in the window seat; as we would tip slightly side to side Caleigh would do an exaggerated sway side to side and say "woah, woah". I'm sure the guy didn't appreciate it but I couldn't stop laughing. At one point he was trying to sleep and she kept saying, "Mommy, why does that man have his eyes closed?" So funny. They really did do so well - we were thankful!

4.9.11 painting

Andrew saying "cheese" and painting "like Daddy" while I potted some plants with my mom and Adam painted Caleigh's room a more neutral tan (a change from the kid friendly green).  We are still praying so much that our condo would sell!

4.5.11 boys, who gets 'em

 

I found Andrew eating his snack like this today - not sure why he is sitting by the open washer with one leg propped up on the box of dryer sheets - but then again, I'm not sure why he does many things... but he sure is cute!  Love that he is doing his new, "cheese" smile in the 2nd one.

4.2.11 susie's wedding

Marcy, me, Susie, Kim, Lindsay, Jessica, Emily

So fun to celebrate Susie and to see so many college friends!