I honestly don't remember what I blogged about last, and I never bothered to look, so here goes nothin'! :)
(This is a disconnected hodgepodge of pictures from before Alaina was born.)
This was the first night we had the babies while Kels was in the hospital with Alaina.
Pancakes for breakfast!
That first night was very cold. The forecast was blizzard conditions and several inches of snow. Per usual, it only snowed a couple inches and wasn't nearly as bad as the weathermen said. :) But, that night, our power decided to go out. Burr! It got pretty cold before the power went back on around 2 or 3 p.m.
Some babies are just too much! :)
Katelyn's hair is so long and thick!
Nate's earthly possessions
Nate found some of his old glasses in his stuff and of course, the babies got them. :)
The next morning was Major Bed Head Day. :)
Since we were going to take them in to see Alaina, I gave both babies a bath. I wound Katelyn's hair up into a little bun. She looked so Smithish!
Somebody unearthed this small dressing bottle of the Irish Sea. We had saved the bottle from a meal on our flight to Ireland, then when we were in Dublin, Gram took a taxi ride to the Irish Sea where the taxi driver kindly walked down to the beach and filled this bottle for her. It was fun to remember!
The weather in Iowa is very volatile. This is looking out our east bedroom window...
This is the north bedroom window.
Abi and I were in town together on day. We were craving a yummy drink from McDonald's, so...
Playing Quiddler one evening
It got pretty chilly in our house one night!
Fresh bread sure is a treat around here!
I don't remember where, when or even why this picture was taken. :)
Abi and I wanted to take Irene and Annetta out for lunch just one last time before they moved. We went to Sweet Joy Shoppe, then went shopping afterwards.
A women's clothing store called Schweser's is closing out here in Atlantic. We've gotten some good deals there. It's always a fun place to go. After browsing around like normal people, we suddenly became abnormal... Trying things on and being silly. A lady commented that, "You girls are having too much fun, but keep having fun!" Or something along those lines.
Finally, we decided to pick the something ugly to wear and we'd take our picture.
Abi couldn't figure out ho to get into her shirt. :)
The finished product! :)
I saw this in a cute little shop after our stint at Schweser's. :)
A card...
This reminded me so much of Mom when we were growing up! :)
This is me to a "T"!
Since Nate wanted to take the "new iPad" as we call it, with him when he moved, we bought another "new iPad" to replace it. I found this pretty case on Amazon for our new "new iPad." :)
KK was being assaulted by a bunch of midgets...
:P
The night Nate left, Katelyn was providing us with comic relief by wearing Doughy's coat... Upside down.
The last family picture. Unfortunately, Kels was home with baby Laina and couldn't be there. For those of you that haven't heard, my brother, Nate, moved to TN to live closer to his girlfriend's family. He wanted them to get to know him better and vice versa. It was really hard to say good bye. There wasn't a dry eye in our family that evening!
Katelyn took this picture of the moving truck before they left. Steve Simmons volunteered to help Nate move by bringing his semi down. No, Nate didn't have enough stuff to fill a semi. :) Steve had to haul a load to TN, so he let Nate fill up the remaining space on his flatbed. :)
This is the view out of a house that we clean.
We celebrated T.J.'s 23 birthday with ice cream cake at Gram's house.
It sure was yummy!
Once Nate had officially moved out, we were able to take the guest room back. Mom cleaned it really well one day and rearranged everything.
It looked like it should be in an HGTV magazine.
Simon and Marian were baptized a few Sundays ago.
Since it was so cold out, we filled up a stock tank in the dining room.
It's always so thrilling to watch the sealing of a Christian's faith through baptism!
Precious little Laina
The Chupps picked up a new vacuum for church. As Ryan tried it out, a whole group of people gathered to gape at the marvel of a new vacuum! :) As you can imagine, there were many willing hands to help clean the sanctuary later. :)
We decided to mix things up a bit by having the boys do the kitchen work while we girls cleaned the sanctuary. We finished before they did, so we ended up helping them. :)
A favorite winter pasttime of ours... The boys love doing puzzles, much to Mom's annoyance. :)
Katelyn loves "Baby Sister."
We girls went out for a second time, only this time Valeria came. I needed to pick out new glasses so all the girls came to help me. We had quite the time! :)
After eating lunch at the Family Table, we walked Chestnut street in Atlantic. Chestnut street is the main street of Atlantic's historic downtown area. It has many quaint little shops and fun places to go. I found this clock at an old five and dime store. :)
Gram, Mom, Abi, Sam and I went out to eat at Coe Creek Cafe in Elliot. They serve the best food ever!
KK's 17th birthday was February 19. I bought him his favorite kind of cereal and wrapped it in this baby dinosaur wrapping paper. :P
He wanted a breakfast of pancakes, bacon eggs, sausage, etc for his birthday supper.
A new church picture... Minus the Martins... :(
Nate and Virginia
The Rudolph family was going on a vacation to FL. They invited Nate to go along since he's courting Virginia.
I made Katelyn a couple new dresses recently.
Mom, Abi and I went fabric shopping in Orchard, IA a couple weeks ago. Orchard is about 3 1/2 hours from us and the closest place to get decent dress material. Anyway, we saw this overturned semi on the way up there.
I got a spring cleaning itch the other week. I cleaned the house really well and washed all the curtains. It made our house look so nice!
Chupp gave us a used Keurig coffee maker. We were so excited! :)
My special lil' bud
I made No bake Cookies for Martin's moving day lunch.
The boys, moving a freezer out of Martin's basement.
Hilarity reins wherever these boys go...
This was scary to watch...
Saying goodbye is so hard. Martins have been here for 10 years. You don't give up a 10 year relationship with somebody very easily. After many tearful goodbyes, they loaded up to leave for their new home in Ohio. We gave them one last Glory wave as they drove away...
Irene and Annetta gave me this mug as a going away gift. It says, "We didn't realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun." So true.
This is a bathroom floor that I clean at a house.
Its really hard to clean! I mop it on my hands and knees. Usually when I'm finished I have a bruise or two on my knees from the stones. :)
*Note* I did not proof read this before I posted it. If you see mistakes, thats why. :)
