McKerr Weekend 2011 Part 1

We have had very fun past McKerr weekends before (here is one, and since I can't find the other one, this will be accepted). And since we anticipate more this year, I labeled this one "part 1." It all started when we loaded everyone and everything up Friday evening a few weeks ago and drove to KC. And we were not the only ones staying at the Kerr's - Walter was in town, too!

Hannah is much bigger now. She is almost two! The boys were very excited to see her in the morning. We started Saturday off at Union Station to see the model train exhibit.




All three kids had fun looking at the trains. The exhibit took up several rooms. Here are a few more pictures.




Afterward we headed to Fritz's for lunch. The food is just diner food, but it is delivered by train! There is a train track hanging from the ceiling, and the train leaves the food on a platform for your table, which then lowers down. Obviously, everyone loved it.

Train tracks around the ceiling.

Food being lowered down.

The reason Walter came in town was for the big Turkey Fry. The Kerr's traditionally hold it around Thanksgiving, which is why we never attend. But since the flu hit their house the same weekend, it was postponed until our visit. The Vrooman's, Bailey's, McGuire's, Kerr's and Walter were all together again Saturday evening.

Steve and Walter were in charge of the turkey fry. Here is the story in pictures:

Great. The turkey is charred beyond recognition!

Wait! Maybe it is just cajun-style, since only the outside is blackened!

Wrong. The inside is still raw. Walter blames Steve's unwillingness to budge on his stance that the turkey did not need to be thawed. (UPDATED: This debate continues on the comments page of the Kerr Blog.)

So we headed to the store and bought chicken. It was delicious. Having 9 adults, 2 of whom are pregnant, and 4 kids in one house for the evening was quite fun. The boys played a few very serious games of Monopoly, while the ladies put the kids down and watched a movie. Here are a couple pictures of all of the kids. (And the preggos..)

Colin, Hannah, Norah, and Kevin

Getting ready for bedtime.

We are less than a week apart!

Another successful McKerr weekend down. Read here for the Kerr version, including Words Of Wisdom from Walter. (We had to start writing them down, there were so many.)

Robots

After dinner one night Kevin asked for a box. He said he wanted to make a robot. Luckily we had forgotten to put out the recycling the previous week, so there were plenty of boxes. Of course, once Kevin got started, Colin had to join in. They needed help with cutting and taping, but everything was their creation. Now if we can just program them to clean the house.


We will update you if the robots become hostile.

Snowflakes Attack!

A teacher showed Kevin how to make snowflakes around Christmas. He was very excited and proud to show us how to make them as well. He immediately started making snowflakes for our house. He has hung up every one that he made. I love that he is so excited, and also that he is working so hard at it. He worked on snowflakes for about a week. He told me that he "wants to decorate the entire house, and that will take a long time." He even took paper and markers to show his cousins how to make them. In the end, he hung snowflakes in five areas in our house.

Here is how it started...

hanging up each snowflake...

and even cleaning up after!

Here is the finished wall in the kitchen.

There are two pictures under the snowflakes. Kevin drew this snowman and said "He goes at the bottom so the snow will fall on him." The orange picture is of Kevin "as a bigger boy holding an umbrella to protect myself from the snowflakes."

Then he moved into the family room.

And then behind the other chair.

Here is the wall between the kitchen and family room.

And finally the sliding door. The snowflakes hang next to the ocean we made a week earlier. There are fish of different sizes, an octopus, a pirate ship and even a treasure at the bottom.

Christmas Stories 2010

There are many stories that we would like to remember from this Christmas, so here are a few that made it to the blog.

We had been telling Kevin for a few days that he could get out of bed and see if there were presents from Santa under the tree. (He normally wakes up and goes downstairs on his own on the weekends.) But he kept telling us that he was going to wait for us to get him up. He never budged from this stance. So that morning we set our alarm and waited to see what he would do. And...... both boys were still sleeping. So after 10 minutes we opened their doors. It was quiet for 5 more minutes, and we started wondering what to do next when we heard footsteps. Pounding, running footsteps. Coming from downstairs. Kevin had sneaked down and was so excited that he was running up. We closed our eyes and pretended to be asleep. Now, normally if he wants us and we are sleeping, he sneaks in, sees that we are sleeping, and sneaks back out. Not today. Kevin actually woke us up. He excitedly yelled "Wake up!" And told us Santa came. Then he ran to get his brother and we all headed down.

As for opening gifts, we forgot how long it takes little kids to open gifts. Colin opened his second gift and told us "No more presents." He had just opened a guitar and was sitting on the couch playing. He told us "no more presents. You watch me put on show. And clap!" We also got Colin a small camera. If you look through the top hole, you can see whatever you are facing. There is another hole that has pictures of animals in it. The animal part has a small shutter to keep light out and allow it in. We told Colin that there were animals if he looked in that lower hole, and that you could see them if you opened the shutter. Well, he didn't look for two days. He kept telling us that if he opened the shutter "he would let all the animals out."

Also, if your child is short on dinosaurs, blame us. We have an enormous amount in our house.

Christmas was very fun but exhausting. We had a big breakfast that morning, headed to Aunt Carrie's for lunch, and then hosted about 20 people at our house for dinner. It was a lot of work for us, but we hope it was worth it for everyone that came! Everyone appeared to have fun, and there were even "feats of strength" contests for Festivus. I guess the payoff was that everyone had been eating all day, and barely touched the chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, bread pudding, peach pie, pecan pie, and pudding pie that we had made. So we got desserts for days!

The camera is dead so I will post some pictures later!

Ice Skating

It looks like he is also pretending to be a dinosaur.

Pregnancy Update

I am currently about 5 1/2 months (25 weeks) pregnant. Here is the news:

She loves to kick. She loves to kick when I rest or eat or don't eat or do anything. She is giving me heartburn. I have that every pregnancy, and the old wives tale is that heartburn is tied to babies with lots of hair. I can only prove that right. I am not sure what I would do with a bald baby, so here's hoping it she is working on the hair! I am starting to really feel big. Already. Ugh. I hope I don't get too giant. Movement it getting limited now as well. I am having some mood swings. It feels like more than previous pregnancies. You will have to ask Kevin, but if you want an honest answer, ask him when I am not around. But for the most part I feel great and finally have some energy.

Colin loves to put his hand on my belly and tell me that he feels "baby sister" kick him. He actually may have occasionally, but he says he does every time. He is still too young to really get it yet anyway. But he does know that his baby sister is in there "growing big." He asked me this weekend if I would "put her in my hands so I can hold her." He likes to tell me that when she cries he is going to "feed her" or "hold her." He is precious.

Kevin is excited about baby sister coming, but talks about it less. When I tell him she is kicking, he places his hand on my belly. The other day she actually kicked his hand. He looked at me so fast with his eyes wide open. It was shocking for him.

Both boys love taking care of baby sister already. They have these penguins we got from a zoo tour earlier this year. Last week they were both pretending to take care of her using the penguins. Here are a few pictures.

First I had to teach Kevin how to wrap a baby in a blanket without covering the face. (This was not my demand. He was getting frustrated and asked me to show him.) They liked to walk around with her and then both found a baby crib to lie the baby in.

Kevin's crib.

Colin's crib.

Snow Shoveling

We woke up Sunday morning to the first snow of the year. Or as Colin said, "Look, snow. Its on your car. Truck too."

When Daddy said he was going out to shovel the snow, of course it was met with a resounding, "Can I come out and help?!" from Kevin and a "Me too?!" from Colin. Luckily, during the course of Christmas shopping a few child size snow shovels had been found for just such an occasion.

Colin was better at scooping snow back onto the driveway, but Kevin worked very hard to clear the way.


After finishing up the front, Colin was adamant about heading to the backyard. Not sure if he understood the snow on the grass was ok.


After Colin gave up on that it was time for a snowball fight. Daddy was very helpful in making snowballs for the boys. Too bad for him that he was the target.



The last picture is open to interpretation. Either Daddy took out Colin in retaliation or he is making a snow angel. What is your guess?


Mommy did her part by making sure hot cocoa and blankets were ready for when the workers came back inside. It was very much appreciated.

Candids from Pappy Grandma

Kevin's mom, Louise, watches the boys on Mondays and Tuesdays. She is known as Pappy Grandma. She often will send me picture of the boys throughout the day to let me know what they are doing, or to show me how much fun they are having. I always love getting the pictures, but haven't really shared many before. I thought I would finally! Here are a few:

Colin being a clown

Playing on their swing set that Pappy built

At Wapplehorst with Pappy. (This is bravery, Kerr's! And wait until Hannah learns how to climb.)

Eating Pirate cake.

Doing one of his favorite things - baking!

Kevin was so proud of his new dinosaur puzzle!

With Pappy at The Magic House.

Dressing up at The Magic House.

One of Colin's favorite foods - corn on the cob.

At the Saint Louis Zoo.

Riding the carousal at the zoo.

One of my favorite pictures of Colin.