Tea Anyone?

Mikayla received a new tea set for Christmas. We finally opened it, and I showed her how to serve tea. The set is the kind that the cups change color when they have water in them. We didn't use real water, but she loved it just the same.
She made several cups of tea to share with me, and we had great fun having a tea party. She played with only the tea set for several days.
She finally got tired of the tea partying, and decided to relax while using her new Dora rocking chair as a foot stool. Life is so fun and interesting with a 2 year old.

Christmas with family

After opening all of our gifts at home, we headed down to Mom Mom and Pop Pop Krupka's. We waited for Josh and Anna to arrive and then we began to open even more presents. Mikayla got so many gifts from all of the family, she just tossed them all aside and started coloring. She was very overwhelmed by all of the things.
One of her favorite gifts was a chef hat and apron. She wanted to wear it for the rest of the day. She helped me make an apron for Pop Pop, and they both wore them while finishing up making Christmas dinner. Mikayla wore her apron instead of a bib while eating.
The day after Christmas, we went to my Mom's house. All of her kids pooled money to buy her a new TV. She really wanted this particular TV, and she was extremely surprised that she got it from us. Needless to say she loved it!
Mikayla has recently started loving wearing scarves, so Kristi knitted her one for Christmas. She loved it and wore it most of the rest of the day!
Although she really loved the scarf from Kristi, her favorite gift was from Aunt Dana. She got a Minnie Mouse dress and light up sparkly shoes. She put the dress and the shoes on and walked around showing everyone how the shoes lit up. She was very blessed with so many wonderful things from both families. We have tried to keep her grounded, and she seems to not expect lots of things from people. We pray she continues to realize this.

Krupka Christmas

Before we began the exciting journey of opening all of our gifts in our small apartment.











Christmas morning Mikayla woke up to a surprise stocking! She was so excited to see Dora hanging from the beams. She wasn't super excited about Christmas morning, so we decided to surprise her with her new stocking. She thoroughly enjoyed opening all of the fun things inside too.




She loved watching and helping Daddy open his stocking gifts too. Mommy gave him a couple of yummy smelling candles to add to his collection.





Mikayla opened one of her favorite gifts, a Dora puzzle. It may be a little above her skill level, but she absolutely loved trying to put it all together.




We also gave her some fun things for using in the shower. Because we do not have a bath tub, and she has outgrown every kind of tub we can find, she now takes a shower. She loves having new toys and fun things while in the shower. We gave her some foam soap to shape in the shower. She really enjoyed that is smelled like candy canes!

Decorating for Christmas

We took advantage of all the time stuck inside to decorate our tiny tree and hang some other decorations too. Mikayla loved looking at all of the ornaments as she helped hang them on the tree. She also loved hanging all of the stockings. It was such a nice time as a family.

Delaware's Big Snow

This weekend we had our first big snow in a long time. It started Friday evening and went all the way through Sunday afternoon. We had so much that even church was canceled. Matt loves the snow, so of course he went out to play in it. Mikayla wanted to get in on the action too so she patiently got all bundled up to head outside.

Choosing our Christmas Tree

We were going to not have a Christmas tree this year, due to limited space in the apartment. Matt wanted one, but I was overwhelmed at trying to figure where to put it. I drove past Lowes in early December and saw that this year they had small tree tops cut. They were the perfect size for the apartment, and Mikayla loved looking at them.

One evening after Matt got home from work, we loaded into the truck and headed to Lowes. All of their Christmas stuff was already 50% off, so the tree was even cheaper, and we decided to stock up on other Christmas decorations. We all had a great time choosing our tiny tree.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well once again I have neglected to post for quite some time. We have been extra busy with the Christmas program at church. Now that it is over, things have quieted down some. As I think back over the last week or so, I can't think of anything exciting we have done.

We have just been busy Christmas shopping and wrapping. We have also been finalizing some paperwork for building our house. We had some snow for about 10 hours, and Matt ran sound for the church Christmas program.

Mikayla has an ear infection, now that her tubes have come out of her ears. We are hoping and praying that we caught it early enough to take care of it. We don't want her to have to get tubes yet again.

I think that is all of the highlights of the last week or so, but I'm sure things will pick up even more and I will have more than enough to write about.

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Yesterday Matt got up nice and early to start the annual turkey. We have never had the task of making the turkey, but Matt volunteered because he wanted to give it a try. He made an injectable marinade and got the turkey all ready Wednesday night. I had gotten all my side dishes made on Wednesday so I didn't have to get up super early yesterday.

After the turkey was finished, we loaded up the truck with the food and ourselves, and made the short trip to my mom's house. When we arrived, the house smelled delicious. We added our food to be heated to the oven, and Matt began carving the turkey. Once Dana arrived, we sat down and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Of course after the meal, I was exhausted, so I napped along with Mikayla. Matt, Ben and Joel went outside with their bow and arrows, and Ben with his paint gun, to shoot at a target Matt brought. They had a great afternoon while I slept.

When we got up, we watched an ice skating special on TV until it was time to leave. Matt's family goes to a local Christmas Wonderland every Thanksgiving evening. We brought our leftovers home, and then loaded up to head to Ronnie's Christmas World. Mikayla loved all of the Christmas decorations and lights. It was fun for her now that she is older.

After the tour of Ronnie's, we came back to Matt's parents house to have a small plate of leftovers for dinner, and then came home and all crashed. We were all tired from a long day.

This morning, I didn't rise with the masses at 4am or 5am, but I did get out around 9. I spent the day shopping all of the great deals, but with not as much of a crowd. I got most of my Christmas shopping finished in one day, and had fun doing it. By 3pm, I was tired and sore, and Mikayla needed a nap, so we headed home. We are now relaxing at home, waiting for daddy to arrive so we can eat dinner. It was a great couple of days.

Prepared for Change

We have gathered all of the supplies needed for our part of Thanksgiving, and tomorrow I will begin cooking and baking. We will be spending the day with my mom and siblings. My mom and I split the menu and Matt is making the turkey. Because he has to cook that on Thursday morning, I am cooking and baking tomorrow so I am out of his way.

We shopped yesterday for all of the ingredients and Mikayla had a blast helping load the cart. She picked out all of the sweet potatoes, and helped put all of the other ingredients in the cart. She sang and talked to all of the other people in the store.

Now she is asleep in mine and Matt's bed. I think this is our new routine. She goes right to sleep without any playing around, and we can still talk and watch TV without disturbing her. Hopefully it will help break her in before we move and put her in a bed there. My little girl is growing up.

Family Pictures

Matt had today off again. Besides it being shotgun season, he has several days left to use before the end of his anniversary time at work. His year begins and ends in November because that is the month he started working at Burris. If he doesn't use his vacation time, he loses it, so he has taken several days off in the last two weeks. It works out well so he can hunt during his time off.

We took advantage of this day off by scheduling last minute family pictures. A friend who is a photographer worked us into her schedule today. Thanks Laura! We met her at a local park, thinking outdoor pictures would be nice. Boy did it get cold today! The last few days have been pretty warm, but today was very windy and chilly.

We had to do pictures in the shade to that we weren't squinting into the sun, so we were even colder! Mikayla usually smiles tons when she sees a camera, but today, she was more interested in the playground behind us. We told her she could play after we did pictures and she didn't cry, but she just really wanted to play.

We haven't seen the pictures yet, but I'm sure at least one will come out decent for our Christmas card. After pictures, we went to a local coffee shop to warm up. It is such a nice cozy place and we think we will be spending some more time there.

Tonight, we are going to my Mom's house for dinner. It will be a nice time with family. Well I guess I should say we are going if Matt does not get a deer tonight. He is hunting right now actually. We should be able to leave when he comes in around 5:30. If he gets a deer, we will be eating apple pie for dinner. I have no plans for dinner since my mom invited us over. I was in charge of dessert, so all we have is apple pie.

I'm not sure which I would prefer...Matt getting a deer and apple pie for dinner, or Matt not getting a deer and pot roast for dinner. Guess we will have to wait and see.

More Catch Up

We are now halfway through November, and I can't believe how quickly time is going. Hopefully the quick synopsis of our lives so far won't leave me upset when looking back this time next year.

I have begun to feel baby Krupka kicking so much more now. I used to only feel movement at night and nothing much during the day, but now the baby seems to have figured out the difference between day and night. For that I am thankful.

We are in the waiting process concerning our house. It is looking more and more like we will be living in the apartment with two children. As time ticks by, the due date grows closer, and I have just come to terms with the prospect. It won't be easy, but the Lord has a plan and I am trying to rest in that knowledge.

I will try to be diligent to keep more up to date with blogging so that there are more details in each blog rather than a summary.

Baby Madyson Visits

Today we had a friend and her little girl come for lunch. Mikayla loved to see the baby and kept wanting to hold her. We finally decided she could handle it and we let her hold her

Mikayla did a great job holding Madyson and I am confident she will be a great older sister.

Playing catch up

After returning from Illinois and visiting Alice and the Evans gang, we began a very busy fall season. We came home just in time, actually a little late, for a Harvest Gathering here at the farm. It was great! Lots of singing and fellowship with fellow believers.

We then had a crazy busy October. We went back to BBC for Homecoming. It was great to see friends and their families. Three of us are married and have little girls. The girls loved to play together. Such a blessing for us each to have girls to play together.

We then began preparing for Mikayla's birthday, and party. We just had family for her party, but soon realized that spelled a rather big party. We wanted to keep things small this year, but we both have siblings and our parents living close, so they were all able to attend the party. Mikayla was a champ at socializing with everyone and even better at opening her presents. I hope to get pictures up soon.

The St. Louis Zoo

Today we got up early and loaded up the girls and headed to the zoo. We wanted to try to get there before we had to pay to park, and pay for the children's zoo and also pay for the carousel. We accomplished two of the three things. Because of some major construction, we were a few minutes too late to park for free.

Once inside the zoo, we went straight for the carousel. The girls loved it so much, we rode a couple of times. It was lots of fun.



After the carousel, we went to the children's zoo and they had a large tortoise out walking around. The girls were all content to stand back and look, but did not want to get too close. We also went inside a building that had many small animals. The girls loved going from one exhibit to another. They even got to see a few of the small animals out of their cages. The last stop in the children's zoo was the goats. We went in and the goats started to get a little crazy so we turned around and walked out. None of us wanted to be around for large goats attacking.

The last thing we did at the zoo was ride the train around the zoo. It was loads of fun to see many of the animals in the zoo from the comfort of the seats.

After the zoo we went to lunch and then headed home for the girls to take naps.

The Magic House

This morning, Alice and Maelyn went to Maelyn's physical therapy session. I stayed home with Mikayla and Lily so they could play. They had lots of fun together. Several times I found them "napping" on the steps.

When Alice and Maelyn returned home, we fed the girls an early lunch and put them down for early naps. We had something special planned for the afternoon, and they needed a good rest first. When the woke up, we packed them into the van and went back into St. Louis to The Magic House, a children's museum. All three girls had a blast! They loved being able to play with so many fun things!