Macie is 4!

Knowing that it's soon, Macie has been asking me for days to explain to her exactly when her birthday would be here.  We've pointed on the calendar and have tried to explain "not today, not tomorrow, not the next day, but the next day" (and so on).  Understandably, this method was met with a few blank stares.

So you cannot fathom how excited I was yesterday to be able to emphatically say, "Your birthday is TOMORROW, Macie!!!".  But then I had to further explain how tomorrow is her REAL birthday, but that she'll have to wait a week (7. Whole. Days.) for the Pump-It-Up party she's been anticipating for months.

Sigh.

But HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Macie!  Here's to a wonderful day at school (with the Cookies-N-Creme-frosted cookies from Target that probably look better than they will taste), a fun afternoon at Gymnastics with Ivie and your best friend, Cameron, and a night out to dinner at your restaurant of choice, Chick-fil-A.  And, for our now-4-year-old who is inevitably looking ahead to what is on tap for the next round of dessert, the answer for tomorrow is Icedream and peanut butter cup pie (thanks, Pinterest)!

We love you, sweet girl!

No More Training Wheels!

Uncertain.

Reluctant.

Downright scared to death. 

Any of these would be apt descriptors of Ivie's feelings about taking the training wheels off of her bike.  So, since it's not her favorite pastime, anyway, we haven't pushed her on it.

But this morning, with the weather not quite so hot and me trying to find ways to amuse the kids in the front yard as opposed to the back (where Bryce can't help but find things that he shouldn't be messing with), I urged her to give it a try.  She agreed, and I dug out the wrench and set to work (just call me Mrs. Dad!).

As I suspected she would, Iv got it on her first try (though we didn't venture into turning just yet!).  We started with a few times uphill...

... and then downhill.

Next step is to practice the graceful stop and landing!

Ivie's Kindergarten Artwork

Yes, I am well aware that Ivie is a couple of weeks into First Grade.  But I finally got around to finishing up her Kindergarten Memory Book, which is a composite of all of her favorite artwork from last year.

Putting this book together was our solution to the problem of art overload in our house, which will never be large enough to contain it all!  Ivie and I agreed that if I took pictures of her favorite creations and put them into a book, she would be okay with me throwing away MOST of the actual work (we still kept a few pieces that will actually fit in the box under her bed for storage).

Enjoy her artwork - time for me to start snapping pictures of the First Grade collection!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own personalized photo books at Shutterfly.com.

A Slice of Bryce (#23): Sixteen Months!

This morning, Bryce had what was supposed to be his 15-month visit.  That I didn't get around to even SCHEDULING until he was about 15 1/2 months, which means the appointment itself took place at 16 1/2 months.

Oh.  Well.

Sooooo, here are his 16 1/2-month stats!

Height:  32 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
Weight:  26 pounds, 1 ounce (85th percentile)
Head Circumference:  48.5 centimeters (85th percentile)

So our sweet boy continues to grow!  He also survived (and quickly got over the pain of) 3 shots, which included this year's flu shot.  Nice to cross that one off the list for the year, at least for one kid!

In other health news, B is finally turning the corner on what I believe was a bout of croup this week.  After a couple of days home with Dale (I'm calling him Mr. Mom now), and today with me, he should be ready to go back to school tomorrow - just in time for another weekend!

Ivie's First Grade School Picture (Fall, 2012)

We won't have Macie and Bryce's fall pictures taken at daycare for a while yet, but Ivie's prints arrived today, so I can't help but go ahead and post hers.  As always, she did a great job smiling!  And, since I got a package that included the photo on a DVD, I'll go ahead and include all 3 of the images I received:  Color, Black & White, and Sepia.

Iv, you're growing up on us, girlfriend...

Chompers #10, #11, and #12

Just 3 days after Bryce's 1st First Molar arrived, so did the other three!  Suffice it to say that we have one drool-y toddler on our hands lately...

Facebook: August, 2012

August 4 at 11:15a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Moral of the story:  If the fancy tools don't work, just go back to the basics.

August 4 at 4:09p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Rameses!!!

August 4 at 4:28p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
And the cheerleaders!

August 4 at 5:02p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Macie: "Mommy, I want to go get a craft!!" Me: "Mac, they don't have crafts here." (Seconds later, after connecting the dots...) Me: "Oh, are you talking about AUTOGRAPHS?!?". Macie: "Yes... What are those?"


August 4 at 7:11p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Making her mommy (and Nina and Papa) proud...

August 5 at 11:19a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
(In a conversation about finding ways to make money...) Dale: "You've got to find a way to make your blog interesting." Me: "Rephrase that, please."


August 7 at 5:59p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Spider: 1 Iv's Arm: 0 Headed back to the doctor...

August 7 at 6:20p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Word of the day: contemplative. Looks like we're both right, but I'm just a LITTLE MORE right. Same ol' story...
Main Entry: 1con·tem·pla·tive
Pronunciation: \kən-ˈtem-plə-tiv; ˈkän-təm-ˌplā-, -tem-\


August 7 at 6:58p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman

Update on Ivie's arm. Turns out it was likely a bee. Stinger was removed. Steroid time.

August 9 at 6:50a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Busy moving furniture this morning.  

August 9 at 7:12a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Somebody loves her new Pillow Pet, a gift from Daddy for being tough through the bee-sting, Popeye-arm scare.

August 10 at 6:44a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
If only we could get him to return some of these emails....

August 10 at 3:26p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Sure is sunny here in the library!

August 10 at 6:42p

Dale Herman
Thank you to Mark and Brooke for the world's largest stainless steel kitchen trash can. This will make my life so much easier!

August 11 at 8:30a

Dale Herman
Macie: Daddy, what are those men making?
Me: I don't know, but they are building something big!
Macie: Is Uncle Scott telling them how to do it right?


August 11 at 2:40p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Learning to sew. Pretty soon I won't have to wait for Nina to come visit to put a button back on for me!  

August 12 at 9:44a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Someone isn't feeling the nursery this morning...

August 12 at 1:13p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
A "race" with Daddy after church.

August 13 at 4:47p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ivie: "When we get home, can I have some of those pretzel rods for... What's Nina call them? Appletizers?"


August 14 at 7:39a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
I just purchased the Fresh Beat Band album on iTunes. And, while all 3 kids dance around the kitchen, I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm singing right along with them.


August 14 at 8:43a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ivie: "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Song 19:1. Mommy, that's not really a song."


August 14 at 3;34p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
The Compliance "nesting dolls".

August 17 at 8:43a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
The pillow pets are ready for their first trip to Grandma's.

August 18 at 8:39a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Chillin' with his cousin, Rod

August 18 at 11:52a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Bug and Uncle Doug

August 18 at 8:11p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
For anyone who isn't sure who Bryce resembles, here is a picture of Dale at 16 months...

August 19 at 7:34p

JeffnJane Schaeperkoetter
No doubt about Bryce and Dale. Here's Amy at 16 months.

August 19 at 6:09p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Soooo much better when they let me feed myself.

August 19 at 6:55p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
(As Macie struggled to climb over the gate to follow Ivie upstairs to play...) Me: "Macie, wait, come let me clean your face. I see chocolate on it." Macie (finally making it over and running up the stairs): "I'll lick it off, Mommy!"
 

August 20 at 7:55a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Every once in a while they choose, entirely on their own, to be sweet sisters.  

August 22 at 8:14a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
First Grade!!!  

August 22 at 4:02p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
And the Mommy and Daddy pic! Thanks, Kristie!  

August 25 at 7:30a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Macie: "Momma, we stayed up EARRRRLY last night with Miss Madison!!!!" Me: "You mean LATE?!?" Macie: "Yep!"



August 25 at 11:19a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Something tells me I'm not supposed to be up here.

August 25 at 2:09p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Finally new chairs to fit our family of 5!

August 26 at 11:21a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ivie (after a failed attempt to get "just one more chance"): "When I get old, I'm going to give my daughter ALL SORTS of chances!!" Me: "Really? I'll write that down and talk to you about it someday when you are a mommy."
 

August 26 at 5:06p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
100 times a day. Literally.

August 27 at 7:36a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
I love these 6 feet (and their new school shoes)!  

August 27 at 3:09p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
(Walking past the shoe section at Target...) Ivie: "Mom, can you buy me Toms?!?" Me: "Ivie, I don't even know what Toms are." Ivie: "They are REALLY PRETTY shoes!" And so it begins...
 

August 28 at 5:29p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Macie: "Mommy, my friends think that the space in my teef is a loose toof." Me: "Well, you just tell them that God put that space there to make you unique!" Macie: "Like my friend that only has 2 toes! God made her ooo-neek, too!"



August 28 at 6:43p

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Lip-smackin' good ice cream!

August 29 at 6:29a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Ivie was so excited to get her first homework assignment yesterday: Have your parents read you a book, think of 2 sentences describing your favorite part(s), watch your Mommy or Daddy write your sentences, and then draw pictures to describe them. Interested to see how long this enjoyment of homework lasts...

August 30 at 8:32a

Amy Schaeperkoetter Herman
Me: "Iv, when Daddy drives carpool, does he still take the gravel road?" Ivie: "You mean the ROCKY road?" Me: "Is that what you call it?" Ivie: "Yes, Mom. Could you please start calling it the "rocky" road, not the "gravel" road?"