Emmy's 1st Bible

Emmy received her first Bible at Lord of Life Lutheran Church on Sunday, August 28th.  We started out the afternoon by making a coloring book at the church.  The church school director then got up to talk about church school, etc.  It's amazing how fast this church is growing.  I believe Emmy has around 150 kids in her class.  They divide up into different groups each Sunday - Emmy is in the Seahorse group. 
After the director was finished with her speech, we then went through the coloring book to find all of the different locations of the church - sanctuary, alter, baptismal fountain, bulletins, everlasting candle, Sunday school room, etc. 
The pastor then handed out everyone's bible by calling each child's name.  Her name is located on the first page of the bible. 
The church provided a meal for everyone after each child received their bible.
She loves to read her bible before bed each night. 
The first night that I read it to her, we were talking about Jacob & Esau.  She wanted to hear all about that boy named "Jake."

18 Month Stats - Erin

Erin had her 18 month check up last month.  She weighed 24 lbs 3.5 oz (50-75%) and was 31 1/4 inches tall (25-50%).  Her head measures 49 cm (90-95%). 

Emmy's stats at 18 months:  She weighed 23 lbs 12 oz and was 31 1/2 inches long.  Her head was 48 cm.

Yep, Erin's staying on track and is bigger than her sister was at 18 months!  :)  Hey...wasn't she a preemie??  Yep!  Seven weeks early and at this point you wouldn't really know it.

These are some of her developments:

• Walks fast, runs, walks backwards
• Climbs to an adult chair
• Kicks and throws a ball
• Stacks blocks
• Puts rings on a cone and dumps them then tries again
• Turns pages in a book - identifies characters (She knows all of the Mickey Mouse characters)
• Says mama, dada, uh oh, um hum, huh uh, shoes, juice, and wow
• Points to body parts on request (eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tongue, hair, belly button, toes, hands, butt)
• Pulls a toy
• Uses a spoon, fork & drinks from a cup
• Dumps a raisin from a bottle without being shown how to do it
• Holds & shows affection toward a doll or stuffed animal
• Loves to talk on the phone
• Puckers lips & kisses us all the time
• She loves to eat all the time.  She eats pretty much anything...she still doesn't care for berries though.
• She loves to pray before every meal and will sometimes remind us if we've forgotten.
• She loves to bring us books.  Loves animals and loves bath time.
• She's really starting to jabber a bit more.  I know she understands everything, she just doesn't want to say it yet. 
• She does a bunch of sign language - eat, drink, more, milk, hello, please, and thank you. 
• Loves to brush her teeth - BY HERSELF.  She only wants to do things for herself and doesn't want anyone's help.  She gets frustrated when she can't do something by herself.
• Loves to feed her dollies.
• Loves to blow on her food when she knows it's hot.

She's the type of girl who wants it ALL or NOTHING.
She loves her daddy!  He can't leave the room without her throwing a fit.  Her tantrums are getting funny.  I don't know where she learned it, but she rolls around and throws her whole body on the floor.

  

Emmy's 1st Fish

Last month we drove up to Hoffman to see Shelby perform in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.  She played a candy kid & an oompa loompa.  She did a really good job.  We enjoyed the play very much!

Before heading back home the next day, we all went to a nearby lake to go fishing.  Emmy caught her first fish!  A little itty bitty sunny!  She even held it!

New Bike

I picked up this little bike at a garage sale the other day.  Emmy is just tall enough to reach the pedals.  She likes to "ride" it but hasn't quite learned to pedal yet.  She knows how to pedal her trike though. 

Valleyfair

Like I said, we've had a busy summer and I have a ton of posts to catch up on. 
I purchased a couple of pizzas at the grocery store one day.  It said "Free Valleyfair tickets with the purchase of two Bellatoria pizzas."  Cub was having a buy one get one free sale.  Even better.  The tickets were Junior tickets, but what the heck.  The girls got in free so that helps.  It's really expensive to go to Valleyfair.  The adult tickets cost $40 each and then $12 for parking.  So right off the bat it costs us nearly $100 just for the two of us.  We thought about going later in the day when the prices are cheaper, but didn't do it.  We ended up buying our tickets ahead of time at Cub and saved $10 on each adult ticket. 
The girls had a blast on all of the rides.  They have really gotten a lot more "kiddie" rides since the last time I was there. 

Washer & Dryer

We purchased a new washer and dryer that seems to do everything but fly!  Our old washer went on the blink a couple of months ago.  It was leaving grease stains all over our clothes. It was time for a new one anyway.  The old washer and dryer were swapped from the old owner's house that they moved into.  I remember when we were viewing this house before we bought it and remembered seeing a brand new washer & dryer set and thinking how awesome it was.  The first day that we moved into the house we walked around the house and then noticed these prize possessions.  I was a little displeased because we were told that the washer & dryer were staying with the house.  But, I was thankful at the same time that we didn't have to go out and buy new ones.  At least they gave us something and I'm grateful that we got good use out of them for six years.  The dryer still works but is older.  I would like to sell it for dirt cheap but Brad wants to throw both of them away. 

The new washer & dryer are Electrolux.  I was so excited when we got these.  My life must be pretty dull when I watch the washing machine go round and round.  I couldn't believe it when they said it will wash a load of clothes in 15 minutes.  So, I had to watch it for a few minutes to see how it worked.  It actually does a load in 15 minutes and the dryer only takes 14 minutes. 
This feature has come in very handy some days.  Last Sunday Brad said he didn't have anything to wear to church so he washed & dried his clothes in less than a half hour.  Seriously...cool!!!
I also haven't had to iron a single thing since we got these.  There is a steam feature and a wrinkle release button ...absolutely love it. 

We may rearrange the laundry room a bit to give us a little more room. 

We purchased the new washer & dryer from Sears.  We had a frustrating shopping experience with the girls.  They were in no mood for shopping in the washer & dryer section.  We were walking out of the appliance section and noticed the Electrolux pair just sitting there.  I backed up and asked Brad..."What about these??"  Earlier we were having a difficult time because we couldn't find anything that was under $700 each.  These were originally priced at $1,599 each and were marked down to $639 each.  We started talking about it.  I knew that these were the "Rolls Royce" of washers & dryers.  So immediately I'm thinking...what's the catch?
We talked with the sales lady and she said that they were last year's model and they just needed to make room for the new ones coming in.  We talked it over and then we decided to get them.  When we were up at the counter checking out, the sales lady scanned in the code and looked at us funny and then scanned it again.  She thought she had made a mistake because the washer came up as $439 and the dryer came up at $379.  It's our lucky day!!...I'm still thinking what's the catch.  We NEVER get a good deal...EVER.

Also, we will never have to go to the yucky laundromat ever again to wash our queen size comforter.  These both have extra large capacity and can hold a king size comforter no problem!

OLD WASHER & DRYER

 NEW WASHER & DRYER



New Swing Set

Check out the new swing set!!  We came upon this great play set from a friend in Monte.  Her mom was retiring her daycare business and wanted to sell the play set.  It's only about three years old.  We jumped on the deal right away!  My awesome brother took it apart for us and hauled it to our house last month.  He brought a bunch of big strong men with him to set it up in our back yard.  With all their help, it was set up in no time - maybe an hour.  The girls are enjoying the play set and it's nice to just let them out the back door to play on it.  Erin giggles each time she goes down the slide.  She likes going head first.  She has eaten dirt/sand several times as she face plants into the sand box. 
Emmy loves to get "puppy rides" (aka...an under dog).  She says, "mommy I want another puppy ride."  So then I give her a great big under dog on the swing and she giggles.  :)  It's so much fun to hear their laughter. 

Monte Fair

While we were home we checked out the county fair.  The girls loved the animals.  Erin didn't want to get too close to some of them though.

 

 

Beautiful Girls

Last month I brought the girls back to Monte to get their pictures taken.  Sam Huntley, one of my mom's coworkers, has taken an interest in photography and she has an amazing talent/hobby.  I really love seeing her photos, so I asked her if she would like to capture the girls for me. 
She took several pictures and each and every one of them melts our hearts. They are just precious!  Brad said that Sam should be winning some awards for her photos.  Here are a few of my favorites from that day. 

 

 

Hockel Reunion

At the end of July we gathered at Bernie & Bev's (Brad's grandparents) for a family reunion.  We started off the festivities with a "Christmas in July" theme.  Some shared past memories of getting together for the holidays and then we played the balloon/pantyhose game.  What a hoot! 
After the first game, we all enjoyed a pot luck dinner and conversing. 
The kids had a blast playing in the bouncy house & running in the sprinklers.  At some point the garden hose made it inside the bouncy house.  It was quite hot that day so I'm sure the cold water felt good on the kids.
Erin was having fun drinking water from the sprinkler/hose. 
Everyone played a few more summer games.  We all shared many laughs!
It's always nice to see Brad's family.  Some of them we don't get to see very often.  So having these reunions is always a pleasure.