Countdown to the Weekend

Wade and I are anxiously awaiting for Friday evening when we hit the road for Fredericksburg, TX to a bed and breakfast for the weekend. Fredericksburg is a historic German town with all kinds of fun shops and restaurants and wineries to boot! Located in the Texas hill country there is no shortage of beautiful scenery and relaxing spots to pull off the road and take in some local fare. I remember driving through the town once when I was a sophomore in college on my way to Padre Island (forgoing the architecture final project I had due on Monday) and went with some friends for a weekend at the beach. I had always wanted to go back to the cute town of Fredericksburgh so thanks to Wade I will be able to cross that off my bucket list! We're also heading to Luckenbach, Texas to take in some live music at the dance hall Saturday night. Being a Texan, let alone an Aggie, Luckenbach is a right of passage- everyone must go there once in their lifetime. We love our kiddos but how exciting to get to sleep in and act like teenagers... well, college students again! Pics will be forthcoming. As for the kiddos, they will have plenty of excitement back at home with Grammie Larson staying through the weekend and Aunt Shelly, GG and Angel coming for the day on Saturday. I think they enjoy having free reign with the kiddos as well. Let the fun begin!!

All About the Kiddos

This post is all about the kids and catching up on their latest milestones and achievements over the past few months. We will start with Big Brother Avery. Wow- he has blossomed into this little man before our eyes this year. To see his hand in mine and how it is nearly half the size melts my heart. He can read a few sentences now and is so excited about continuing to learn more "sight" words to help him with his reading. He is also excelling in his Spanish and knows more than I do, which really isn't hard, but exciting all the same. He's teaching me along the way! They started offering piano lessons at daycare and he asked us to sign him up so of course we did. I think many people wish they learned to play the piano or some sort of musical instrument in their lifetime and if he is interested in learning piano, we couldn't be more excited about it. He's had 2 classes so far so for his birthday we are planning on getting him a keyboard so he can show us what he has learned and practice at home. The weather hasn't been the best, like everywhere else, so we don't know if his bike riding skills have advanced at all. Can't wait for Spring to get here so we can spend more time outdoors. But he keeps himself entertained inside by writing whatever he can- usually asking us to spell the word and he writes it. Then he proceeds to hang it up on the walls around the house with scotch tape. Who needs wallpaper with Avery around. He has made our walls quite colorful lately. Here's an example of his skeleton (in case you couldn't read his writing). He is also a regular now at Sunday school and loves to talk about God and Jesus. The teacher said he is quite the helper. Kindergarten registration is at the end of March and I can hardly wait for school supply shopping. He is ready to learn and wants to learn so it's hard to not be excited as he enters this next phase of life. Now to princess Ella. She is just an amazingly good and sweet girl. She has learned to give close mouth kisses and although they are not as plentiful as the wide mouth kisses were, we love them so much. She especially enjoys showing affection to her brother and all her stuffed animals. The Minnie Mouse from Grandpa Schmiedecke has become her favorite and often carries her around by her leg! It was last week that we noticed that she has started becoming very vocal and saying new words. What used to be just bye-bye is now night-night, bye, juice, baby and you know the word NO is among the 1st as well. She's sure to use that one much more than we would like but so far she reserves it for the cat! She's just doing great and becoming more independent everyday. Especially at feeding time- she can handle a spoon like noone else! Don't you try to feed her- she will throw a fit! We are introducing the potty too but it's a nice place to sit more than anything else. She is quite the little dancer and loves any kind of music. Pretty soon it will be dance and gymnastics lessons for her. Enjoy the photos taken from Valentine's weekend on our family outing to the zoo.

Long Overdue Congratulations

It's long overdue to share the news with everyone on my sister's recent engagement to Andy Barbieri over New Years weekend!! They braved the weather for a trip to Washington D.C. and came back engaged! We couldn't be happier for them both. Now for the fun part! I was able to spend this past weekend in FL for a girls day of wedding dress shopping. We found "the dress" and look forward to seeing her walking down the aisle on November 6th. Congratulations big sis!

Ella's Big Day

Our family is happy to announce Ella's baptism this morning! She didn't know what to think of it all- she was still but got a little upset about the holy water on her forehead as she tried to wipe it off! Avery was with us to witness the occassion and he was glowing with happiness for his baby sister.

Catching Up

I find myself saying where in the world did the month of January go?! In hindsight, I know but choose not to remember. It's been a difficult and stressful month for our family but it's times like these that make you appreciate the good times that much more. Ella had been sick since New Years Day with an unexplained fever and through the course of a week learned that she had a uti that caused a kidney infection. Luckily it wasn't a severe infection requiring hospitalization but she was on medication for 14 days, followed by several follow up appts and tests. She was diagnosed with reflux of the bladder- out of 5 stages she is a 2.5-3. That means that hopefully over time she will "grow out of it" and not require surgery but she will be on a daily medication for the next 18 months to prevent further infection and kidney damage. In 18 months she will have to be recathed and have another ultrasound done to see if the condition is improving or if surgery is in her future. From talking with friends, I've learned that uti's in young girls is not uncommon and the tests are fairly routine; however, we are the 1st ones that have required treatment. So this is meant to share the knowledge with the other parents out there and if your child has a high fever with no other symptoms, tell them to check for a uti. The good news is she is in no pain and everything from now till then is preventative. All we can do is hope that she stays healthy and her body literally outgrows this condition. She is still a happy and playful and we are thankful that if this is what was chosen for her, that it's easily curable. My aunt Lois also passed away on Saturday, January 16th. She was my father's sister, the "boss" as we lovingly called her and a role model to me. She will be forever missed. I was able to travel to Pittsburgh to attend the memorial and as crazy as it sounds, it was great to reconnect with family- and what a HUGE family it is! Life won't be the same without her but life goes on all the same. Well, I surely can't end this post on a sad note so I included a few pics of Ella's 1st trip to Chuck E Cheese. Aubrey, a friend from school, invited us to her 2nd birthday party and they had a great time together. I see many playdates in our future!! We also look forward to the arrival of Max and Mia - twins for Carlo and Shannon. It was great seeing you at the shower and can't wait to meet your little angels. Wade says hold out for February 3rd!