Alyssa's Birthday Party

Our posts are about a week behind. If I had posted everything from last weekend at once it would have been overwhelming. Here are some pictures from Alyssa's 5th Birthday Party. It was at "Family Fun and Fitness". It was more Fun then Fitness and we might have to move to New Palestine to join. It had a ton of cool things for the kids.

Eli thought he was 8 at this party! He would run up to much older kids and grunt for the ball.

Papa found Eli a smaller ball and a separate hoop to play on.

Alyssa made it to the top of this thing, and it is tall!!

Who is with us?

Has anyone watched the Toyota Commercial with the "big hamster ball" and thought, I really want to do that... well let me tell you how. After research I found that it started in New Zealand but is now available in the US, only 6 hours from here... in the Smoky Mountains. Who is with us? Mike and I could use a mini vacation (adult time)... and why not Zorb (thats what it is called)... come on Collins' we know you are up for it!

http://www.zorb.com/smoky/

Who's the man?

Such a little stud. I think he knows our world revolves around him and that we think he is the best thing ever... I can see it in his stance.

The bunny cake... yes more Easter pics

Last year my mom made Eli this bunny cake... he was 5 months old, so he looked but did not touch or eat. This year he got to enjoy it!!

Eli decorating his bag to hunt Easter Eggs at my Aunt Kathy's.

Thanks Memaw/Pepaw

There is a space in Eli's baby book for his first piece of "Art Work", and here is what we will enter. Although he has "colored" this is the first one he has not had any help with. The crayons are big enough for him to hold which makes it easier. We are not so convinced they totally wash off so this might be the last time we see them for a while. We might take them to Memaw and Pepaw's for their bathtub.

We are very very late with this one

Eli has a new friend.
Eli loves playing with Nadia Perez... and now he has a new Perez friend. We went to visit Tatum and Jose and their new baby, Sonia, over a week ago. Eli had a great time playing with Nadia and to make sure she does not forget him this next month, he gave her a framed picture of himself.

After we left the Perez's we made a stop at one of Eli's favorite places... Menards. He loves to run around in the store. Unfortunately, for Eli, we are normally not there to "play".

New trick

While watching basketball last weekend, we heard some screeching from the playroom. We entered to find Eli had taken all his LEGO's out of the holder (wagon) and was sitting in it. He has yet to master getting out.
This is not safe and parents should not allow children to climb in this... there is a warning on the plastic that says so.

Easter Basket

Eli was so excited about his Easter Basket. We got him up and let him eat his breakfast. It was sitting on the fire place and when he saw it I heard all kinds of squeals coming from the living room along with Mike saying "he found the basket". It was so cute... but no video so you can't tell how excited he was.

Easter Egg Hunt Conclusions...

This was our last practice hunt before our first real hunt.

We added an extra egg hunt to our list by going to Mike's mom and dad's church with his cousins. He totally choked. Apparently the other kids gave him cold feet. However, his cousin when to town.


We skipped the egg hunt in the neighborhood... way too cold. But were able to go outside at my Aunts on Easter. The big kids area to hunt was separate from Eli's so he did well again.

Is it Easter or Halloween?
Little help from papa and cousin Billy

NCAA Holiday Pictures

Well, the tournament in not over but our 4 day holiday (known as round one and two to those that care about the actual games) has come and gone. Here are some pictures of our wonderful "holiday".

The gifts...

The chex mix...
Sometimes we wonder if we got the right baby. We did not see him immediatly when he was removed from my belly so we feel it is possible he might be the wrong child. Bridget (our OB/friend) obviously did see him immediatly and promises he is ours. We only wonder because we don't think he looks like either of us. But, his love for chex mix might be our proof he is a Kuebler. He could not get enough! He even picked it over Monkey Bread!

Mike's set up...

We attempted to get direct TV before the tournament but there was no guarantee the signal would clear our trees in the spring. Why does this matter? We were not able to get the March Madness package that Direct TV offers which would have allowed Mike to watch all the games at once. Next best option... set up all the laptops you can find, watching 2 games online and on on the TV. Note the card table to keep Eli away from the laptops and the placement of the highchair (so we don't have to be away from the TV for lunch).

Note: Eli and I have been mathematically eliminated from winning this year... our brackets stunk. I am thinking about ditching my "which location has the most personal significance to me" method next year. That worked awesome when Florida was won the last few years (where my sister lives). But my awesome trip to CA with my sister this year really let me down (USC will not be winning it all).

Holiday

It has begun... An official Holiday at our house, the NCAA tournament. We have been planning for months. Mike takes as much time of work as he does for Christmas so we are all home a ready. We have been planning the menu for weeks. Pancakes this morning (did not turn out like Mike's dads but we ate them anyway), egg salad for lunch, Wings tonight, Monkey bread in the morning... chex mix all the time and, basketball of coarse. Mike loves the actual basketball. I like the "event"... the food, the family time, and scoring my bracket. I got Mike and Eli a "March Madness" gift this year which they opened on Selection Sunday. I will post the video soon.

On the hunt

It is possible Eli will be participating in a few egg hunts this Easter...

1. My aunt has one at her house (maybe... no pressure Aunt Kathy)
2. Our neighborhood has one
3. Mike and I plan are organizing one for the cousins at Mamaw's this Easter

So, that being said, we have lots of practice to do. Being that the weather is gross today and that Eli and I are still in our PJ's at 4:30pm... what a great day to start to practice. I filled each egg with one cheddar cheese goldfish to help him understand... this would have worked better if I did it before snack time vs right after.

Video #1: The initial try.

Video #2: Getting better


Video #3: Still to come... in this video Eli runs to eggs, beating 7-8 year olds with his skills and you are amazed. We will post it after Easter.

Practice with two

Kuebler Day Care

We still have a while before we really think about two... but I got a little taste of what it might be like today. OK, so it really was not great practice. I think I got a really unrealistic picture of what it would be like. I watched Maddie today for Rachel. She and Eli are only about a month apart in age. They play together well, like the same food, nap at the same time, eat at the same time, and are both in great moods today (so far). The fact I am able to blog while they both sleep says that it was been too easy (I also did a load of laundry and ate lunch - very unrealistic is my guess).
Here is a little video of them playing today.

From Carol's blog

I took this right off our friends Carol's blog... thought some of our friends and family might be able to help this family (child) as well. I see you contact her friend directly to buy the shirt. There is extra information from Jen in the comment section of this entry.

Adoption Fundraising

Doug and I have had the honor to witness several friends adopt children both locally and internationally. It is a joy to take part in their journeys, even if we haven't experienced adopting children ourselves.
A humbling part of adoption is asking people to help with the cost. It is hard for people to ask others to help them bring a child into their family. However, I see it as a beautiful thing. As friends, we have the priviledge of being part of the process. When I was pregnant, only Doug and I were part of the process :) Adoption is awesome because it takes a community of friends and family.
So, I would like to help some friends, the McKim family, raise money to pay for their adoption. They are adopting a child from Uganda. He is a teacher and she is a stay-at-home mom of 3.
You can help them by purchasing a very cool t-shirt and/or purchasing some delicious free trade coffee. They have been forced to get creative because they don't qualify for the tax credit (he is a teacher and doesn't pay enough taxes..something like that).

Order Yours: S/M/L/XL

The back has the Bible verse John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come for you." And in fine print on the world it says, "this shirt is changing lives in Africa".
To order, email jenmckim@hotmail.com

Buy this Coffee- Help the McKim's Adopt

African Morning (light roast)
*Triple Tango (medium roast)
*South Seas (dark roast)
*Cinnamon Creme Brulee (flavored)
*Decaf
*Cocoa Jambo! (all natural Ghana cocoa)
The coffee beans are all fresh roasted and can be ordered whole bean or ground. All flavors and roasts are $10/lb.
You can order here! Go to: http://www.963coffee.com/c-1-963-coffee.aspx?affili

T-shirts ($20) and coffee ($10). You can go to Jen's Journey for Truth blog to contact her if you'd like to know more :)

He might be getting hair

Eli got a new nickname today.

OK... so I know you can barely even see his hair sticking up... but the kid hardly has anymore hair then he was born with. A few strands long enough to get a little wild is exciting to us.

Maybe it is growing a little?

Boys and dirt

Eli loves to stand at the window in our front room and stare out the window as if he longs to go outside. So, Saturday we thought we would let him go out and play. He loved it. And, the fit he threw when we brought him inside was similar to what you might see a 3 year old throw when asked to leave Chuck E. Cheese.

Fortunately, it was 60 degrees out today so, we went for a walk and let him play outside for a few hours again! He was in heaven. He spent most of his time going to one pile of mud after another. At one point he fell down in the mud and just laid there thinking "this is the best thing ever!". Note the wet back and leaf stuck to his head.
Thank goodness we have kind neighbors. He seems to favor their yard. They have a large tree in the side yard next to ours. Under it is tons of dirt and pine needles. He must have sat in that pile of mud for an hour just poking at it with sticks and mushing it up in his hands.
You know I am exhausted when I let this happen.

Look who's talking

WARNING: This is the type of long video only grandparents are interested in... and maybe only parents themselves.

Looks like Eli is going to take after his mother. I do not mean that he will not talk until he is 3 (like his dad), but that he will talk all the time (like his mom).

We are not getting younger, but Mike's getting smarter

As some of you might know Mike does not have a reputation for being handy. However, this might be changing... this weekend he was "forced" to tile our wet bar/bathroom area on the diagonal vs the square. I am pretty sure he is blaming everything that's wrong in life on the fact I wanted to do this... the war, world hunger, you get the point. Tiling on the diagonal does force one to use a wet saw. They will let ANYONE rent one of these things.

My real point is Mike looks like a pro using the wet saw and was able to pull off any odd cut I asked for. I also have to say the floor looks like a pro did it. We still need to grout but we are so close!

We will be taking Advil for the next week or so... in fact we might be calling into work. I am not sure we will be walking tomorrow. We are only 30, why are we so much more sore then we would have been 5 years ago.