Pavers are Gone

Back Patio Remodel

We have just taken the beginning steps in redoing our back patio. It was a raised earth patio with pavers on top and large rocks in a retaining wall. Over time, the earth underneath has eroded and animals have burrowed under the stones. This has left the surface of the patio very dented and "wobbly". As the kids get older we feel that using this patio poses safety issues. Not only can they fall/ride off the side, the ground bees and other bugs bother us all.
So we have decided to pull up everything and build a wooden deck with a railing. Fortunately, we have found a family through the Jefferson Co. freecycle program that is willing to pull up all of our pavers and rocks. In return they get to keep them all free. This family runs a daycare and has a lot of dirt and muddy areas that need better structure supposedly. In any case, we are very happy that we do not have to pull up and transport all of the pavers and rocks.
We got all of our lumber delivered to us this past Saturday and Andy spent the entire day shuttling it from the curb to our garage using a wheelbarrow....3 boards at a time. They are very long and very heavy. I couldn't help him much since I had to watch the kids and also help out at the funeral home.
So, here are photos from the first step of our project. Pavers are being pulled up.

Milestones

Rowan continues to learn something new everyday! Now she is 2 1/2 years old. She can dress and undress herself, feed herself (including self-serve from the fridge), count to 3, and is making leaps and bounds in her speech development. She is still not attempting to say k, c and g consonants but I'm sure they will come soon enough.
Rowan is becoming quite the independent little girl. Every day she proclaims, "I do own" or "I do by myself!" a dozen or so times.
She has a strong desire to take care of Harvey at times and wants to feed him, dress him, undress him, and change his diaper. But most often you can find her yanking toys out of his hands and scolding him, "No Owbie! That's mine!" even if it's really not her toy.
I took this picture of her in her boots because it reminded me of a photo of myself when I was younger - standing in jammies and winter boots.





Rowan still loves to play in the water and really loves to play in the sink. She tries to help wash dishes every now and then.











Harvey is now 7 months old. Time is passing quickly. It seems that wherever I go, many women describe him as a flirt. A lady at Wal-Mart called him a "lady killer" yesterday. It doesn't seem to matter what age the female is, Harvey charms them all.

Harvey is now doing very well at sitting on his own. He tips over about 30% of the time. He is rolling over quite a bit and is starting to do the "army" crawl. He is quite capable of moving about the room now and reaching Rowan's things (much to her dismay).

Harvey is now eating oatmeal, peas, pear sauce, sweet potato, carrots, squash, blueberries and bananas. His only disliking is for broccoli and green beans at present. He gums up teething biscuits with glee and boy does that ever make a mess in the high chair.
Harvey's growth is amazing us still. He is about 21 pounds and has a long torso. Today I broke open the 24 mo size onesies for him. Maybe the 18 mo size shrunk in the wash, but it's not so easy to snap over his diaper - whether its a disposable or a cloth diaper. So here's my baby boy - 7 mos old...wearing a 18-24 mo size onesie and 6 mo size pants.
I'm also pretty sure his shoe size is a 3/4.
Oh and he outgrew his bucket carseat. So now I have to carry him to and from the car, or transfer him to a stroller.

Harvey is also babbling a lot. He can say da da da and lba lba lba. And he can blow raspberries.

We look forward to watching the kids grow and learn. Their relationship with each other will be interesting to watch too!

New Year Same Adorable Kids

Harvey has become quite the "grabby" little boy. He wants to touch and explore everything!

Rowan loves to play with her doll house (Janea's old doll house) and fancy furniture she got for Christmas.

Harvey is so sweet we are tempted to eat him.

Here is Harvey playing the online game Everquest II.

Harvey seems to enjoy time at the computer....just like his dad.

Rowan is playing with Harvey up in her room.

And, of course, she still wants to play in all the old baby toys as well.

Harvey's Baptism

Harvey was baptized on Sunday, December 30th at First Congregational United Church of Christ in our hometown. Pastor Deb Howland officiated and did a nice job. Both Harvey and Rowan were well behaved during the service. Harvey's godparents were Julie and Jerry Jolly, who were unable to attend due to illness in the family. Other family in attendance were Grandma and Grandpa Allord, and Grandma and Grandpa Weisensel. After the service we had food and cake back at our house.
This is the little hat that came with the baptism suit we purchased at Burlington Coat Factory. Andy didn't want Harvey to wear the hat because it "made him look like a baby". So he only wore the hat for this one photo.

Pastor Deb is asking us how we intend to raise Harvey.

Harvey looked very dapper in his little white suit.

Here we are with the Allord Grandparents.

Harvey did not mind being held by Pastor Deb for his baptism.

I still have a few photos to scan - I will post them as soon as I can.

Happy Holidays and Prosperous 2008!

Snow is yummy!

Playing with Dad....

Rowan 1 Dad 0

The joys of "girlyhood"!

Rowan is ready to audition for America's Next Top Model.

Santa is coming!

Santa left both kids speechless.

We finally had a lot of "packy" snow to make a decent snow man this year and still have snow cover in the yard. Rowan and Dad made this nice looking gent. The next morning we had more snow and his face and hat were covered.

Tis the Season....

Our new Christmas tree. Our last one was shorter and skinnier than me. This one looks so much nicer in our living room.

We have lots of really nice snow for the season. Above our month's average.

Rowan's first meeting with Santa went well. She refused to talk or smile, but she didn't cry and talked about the event afterwards.

The Santa at East Towne Mall in Madison was great. A nice person with a real beard!

Here is our nativity set that we received from Dennis and Darlene.

Harvey is 3 months old!

Harvey is doing exceptionally well. He loves to play with dangling toys and loves to grab objects now. He coos a little and sometimes will chuckle. Overall, he is still a pretty easy, contented baby. I can't wait till he can sit on his own!


Harvey is still liking Rowan.
Big man can sit in the chair by himself. I should have given him the remote.
Being a baby is hard work. Dad helps me to re-fuel.

Oh Brother

Here we go again....

Rowan's Birthday

Rowan turned two this year! Not only did we have a party for her, but we had a shared party with Andy (who turned 31)! We decided to go out to a kid's farm and let Rowan experience many farm animals. She saw and touched horses, cows, goats, mules, miniature ponies, rabbits...and she chased some chickens. Other animals at the farm included pigs, llamas, peacocks and a dairy cow that you could try to milk. Rowan did one tiny pull of the udder and Janea tried a few times to produce milk. I think she got the milk out once out of 4 or 5 tries. The cow was pretty docile and didn't seem to care what was going on. Rowan then got to ride a horse for the first time. She ended up getting the tallest adult horse they had - I don't know why. She was the only kid at the time and they had other little ponies available. Unfortunately, we don't have a photo of her riding the horse...only video. I"ll have to find a way to post that later. After the pony/horse ride, we went on a hay ride with Grandma and Grandpa. The ruts in the road were very deep, so it made for a bumpy ride. Two of the farm dogs decided to go on the ride. One of them half sat on Grandpa for most of the ride. When it was time to leave, we got to pick out some pumpkins. Rowan found a tiny round shaped pumpkin and carried it to the car. When we got home we had some birthday cake. Janea decorated it with "Ooh and Ah" two monkeys on the Disney channel. We all had a lot of fun, and Andy didn't mind sharing his birthday with Rowan this year.

Harvey's New Hat

Rowan decided that she wanted to play with the formula one day. I thought she had only spilled a little on the table until I turned to look at what Harvey was doing. To my surprise, Rowan though the formula would be a nice addition to Harvey's head! I'm so thankful that it didn't get on his face or in his eyes.