Wordless Wednesday

Today Ginny taught us a valuable lesson...

 

not only can she unscrew the top of something (we learned that with a water bottle a few weeks ago)...she can get the freshness seal off of a brand new bottle as well...


Yep...she's a Koschmann...and acting like a toddler!

Happy Birthday Murray Man!

 

Every year I am amazed at how much more of a "little man" he becomes. From the moment I laid eyes on him I was in love...and I saw that look in his eyes like he was a wise old man. Well, he's getting older, and wiser and he still gets that glint in his eyes. This boy is too smart, too fun and too lovable!


At the age of 4 Murray Man loves:
legos, cars, crashing, running, anything fast, anything strong, anything that makes noise, anything that shoots, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Tigers, imagining, dress ups, cooking, grilling, beer...especially an IPA, testing out independence, picking out his own clothes, computer games, lovie, eating, snacks, more eating,  riding bikes, his scooter, races, games, helping, and his family. 


He loves to play and argue with Lucy and to play with Ginny especially to make her laugh and to laugh with her. Murray is an amazing brother and son. 


This past year Murray Man has grown immensely. He became a big brother, started preschool and has a whole new year of life experiences to take with him. 


I can remember babysitting in high school and college and just dreaming about the little boy I would have one day. God certainly gave me an amazing one. I never really believed I could fall in love with a boy at first sight until I saw my Murray Man. He's everything I ever hoped for with the energy and adventure from his daddy and his love of snuggles and quiet moments with me. He certainly makes my life more joyful, more adventuresome, more intense, louder and full of love. He teaches me patience, understanding and how to enunciate my words. He makes me laugh, and makes me want to scream. He gives me hugs and reminds me to watch for the little things in life. 


We're so glad we could share another birthday with you Murray!

Wordless Wednesday

Strawberry Picking! Yum!

 

Evangeline Kate 11 months old!

11 months old and counting. Stop already sweet girl. We're avoiding the 10th next month...we'll go straight from the 9th of July to the 11th with no turning back and refuse to admit what could have, should have happened on the 10th. 

I may try to avoid your birthday, but in so many ways you're telling me that you're leaving being a baby behind and moving forward. 

Your mouth is FULL of teeth. You went from 2 sweet little teeth on the bottom to 4 on bottom and 2 just barely poking through on top. Your smile is still infectious and it's a joy to see each and every day. 

You are becoming an adventurer. You crawl around exploring the world around you. You're usually close to me and one of your favorite places to be is in the kitchen pulling out baking items like sprinkles and spices and shaking them around. You also have tried opening and closing the big drawer of pots a few times which usually ends in a few pinched fingers. 

You started pulling up! Just when we thought it may not happen for awhile you decided you were ready and did it over 10 times in one evening. Now, you do it like a champ. If I am sitting in a chair and not paying enough attention to you your crawl over, scream, pull up and start hitting the chair to get my attention. As soon as I pick you up you're all cuddles. 

You're starting to sleep through the night! That occasionally means waking up around 5:30 am, but if you're sleeping from 8-5:30 I'll take it! You're all snuggles and giggles when you wake up in the morning and laugh and hug us as you crawl around in our bed after nursing. 

You still like to bounce on your bottom on the trampoline at gymnastics with Lucy and Murray and on their big kid bed. You laugh and play with your big brother and sister so well and are starting to interact more with them and toys. You point your remote control at the tv, put play phones (and real ones) to your ear and try to push cars across the ground. 

After a week with Grammy and Pop Pop you're eating like a champ, sleeping well and drinking from a sippy cup. Some days it's hard to remember what life was like a year ago when we were anxiously awaiting your arrival. I can barely remember what it was like to anticipate meeting the little girl growing inside and learn her ins and outs. 

Now, I can't imagine a day without you. In fact Ginny Girl...in 11 months you have not spent more than 3 hours away from me at any given time. We are literally joined together and I wouldn't trade this year for anything. 

Evangeline Kate, at 11 months old you are still easy going, but learning to assert yourself. You are joyful, smiling easily at the antics of our family. 

You can be bashful, clinging to mommy when you're unsure of a situation. 

You're observant, carefully watching what we are doing and doing your best to mimic it. (My favorite of this is when Lucy and Murray are doing gymnastics and you put your arms above your head and bounce on your bottom and then face plant yourself on the floor!). 

You're loving. The smiles, snuggles and kisses you share show how much you love us!

You're beautiful! 

You're growing! I can't slow it down and I'm enjoying the adventure and I know as you continue to grow you will continue to bless us in ways I can't even imagine. 

We love you Ginny Girl!

Thankful Thursday

As I'm trying to get back into the swing of things...I thought I'd have some input in my Thankful Thursday post. 

Lucy is thankful for visiting 2 parks this morning and painting outside with "liquid chalk".

Murray is thankful for Ginny and presents. They had a surprise last night that Nick brought home from church and this morning we let him open an early birthday present from Grammy and Pop Pop that arrived in the mail yesterday. (More on that later...with pics to come...he's getting WAY too big). 

I'm thankful for fun with my kids. It's nice to feel like we're settling in back home and just having time to be together enjoying the warm weather and the company of our own little family. It's truly amazing to watch them play and grow together. 

Ginny just crawled over and wanted to thank me for putting a clean diaper on when she got up from nap...so she could create a lovely present in it for me...I better go take care of that!

So Much to Post

So little time. 

A friend of mine likes to call every so often even if it's just for 5 quick minutes. Her reasoning is that it becomes too daunting to "catch up" if you haven't talked in too long. If you've heard the cliff notes version every so often it's easy to have a nice long catch up when time allows. You know the basics and can go from there, talking about what's really important and not just the facts of who, what, when, where....

I feel like my blog is in need of a 5 minute catch up or I may not pick it up again. 

We've been BUSY. We were sick and busy, we've been healthy and busy...now we're onto EXHAUSTED and busy! We went from Lent into Easter into Confirmation into a visit from Grandma and Grandpa from Albuquerque, into a few days to recover into a few days in Frankenmuth then we're home for a day and a half and the kids and I will head to Chicago for a week. 

Phew! It gets tiring just to write it. I'm looking for some quality relaxation in Chicago. The kind where the days are filled with fun without a schedule. Bike rides with my dad, walks to the library, ice cream after dinner, Portillos, and just sharing my childhood with my kids. 

I'm also hoping to catch up on some blogs. 

So...in the meantime, my camera memory card is saving lots of cute smiles and moments to be shared soon...except from Frankenmuth...since Nick's busy working I didn't bring the camera...one more thing to keep track of...besides, most of our time is being spent in the pool! 

Hope you're all enjoying your spring as well!

Evangeline Kate: 10 months old

10 months old! You're into the double digits. I feel like you're no longer inching towards that first birthday, but with the goal in sight you're now boldly moving towards it. I keep joking that we're not having birthdays this year. You can celebrate your first birthday when you're 2 because I don't want my snuggly baby to be toddler just yet. 

You don't seem to agree and you keep growing and becoming more confident with each passing day. 

You still have a few lovely qualities for me to cling to. You still like to wake in the night to nurse. Truthfully, you just like to nurse. You like to snuggle close and know that I am near. I don't mind one bit. I'll trade all the nights out, the days of being able to leave you behind to know that you're near too. One day you'll tell me you don't need me with you, so I'll cling to this as long as you will!

You still only have 2 teeth. They're the cutest little teeth and their are many more that are so close to breaking through. They're just not there yet. 

As much as I enjoy thinking of you as my "baby", you're certainly growing up and I wouldn't want to mark you turning 10 months without acknowledging these "big girl" things you're doing. 

You've pulled yourself up to standing. It's not a sure thing, but you're definitely pushing yourself onto your feet while crawling and pulling yourself up to standing on a regular/daily basis. 

You crawl with confidence.

You're a girl on a mission. You know you can move with a purpose and you do so. You know what you want and you go after it. While you still sit back and observe your surroundings at times, you also know where you want to go and how to get there. A few of your favorite places to get into mischief are the kitchen cabinets, the art cabinet and the closet in the bathroom...you hear that door open and go straight for the toilet bowl brush...of course you do!

You're discovering your voice. It's like you woke up and realized you're a Koschmann...you know you can scream and you know how to use it! You may know the sign for "more", but if you really want something a scream is much more likely to get the attention of multiple people who are able to meet your needs!

We've enjoyed some warm days going for walks and playing outside. You've seen the ducks and tasted your first taste of dirt (You are certainly "Boba's girl" in that department). You enjoy sitting in the swing or on a blanket and watching us be outside. You've tasted Daddy's BBQ and ICE CREAM! You couldn't get enough of that!

Oh how we love you. You love to pull Lucy and Murray's hair, crawl all over them and just laugh at their antics. You're such an amazing piece of our family and it's difficult to imagine life without you in it. People constantly comment on how cute you are, how sweet, how calm you can be. I just smile and say, yep, that's our Ginny Girl. 

10 months old Ginny! slow down...let's take these next few months nice and slow!