Happy Birthday Paul!

Well, I am a day late, but Happy Birthday to my amazing husband Paul! You are such a wonderful dad, husband, and friend! Me and the boys love you so very much and know that we are the luckiest people in the world to have you. You take such good care of all of us and work your butt off to keep us comfortable. Happy Birthday and just know that we love you more than anything!

Oh What Fun!

Oh what fun we have been having! Last week, we went to McDonald's with McKenzie. The boys had a blast, and I think McKenzie had a great time, eating a ton of chicken nuggets and watching the three crazy Krupp's.

Over the weekend, we celebrated Paul's birthday with Amy and Mike Schommer, mine and Paul's siblings, and other friends. We had a great time! But we just can't keep up with the life in the fast lane anymore!

Today, we got to go to Jumper's Gymnastics with Cortney and McKenzie (with Cortney's MOPS group). It was a lot of fun! The boys ran and ran...and Kenzie held her own too! She would stand on the trampolines and impressively keep her balance as the kids all whizzed past her. Lucas did really well. He actually ventured away from me quite a bit--as long as I was always in his line of sight. Thomas played super hard, climbing, jumping, and hanging from everything he could. And Kevin ran around with some of the boys that were around his age. His talkative nature makes it pretty easy for him to make instant friends!

Miss McKenzie at McDonald's

Thomas and Kenz--he's got stuff to do, no time for pictures

Lucas did not take off that hood the entire time!

Kevin and Kenz

Thomas' at Jumpers Gymnastics...this is probably the stillest he was the whole time!

Kenzie, a born gymnast

Lucas in the foam pit

And here's Kevin in the foam pit as well

'Tis the Season

Well, it is official. Our boys get cuter by the day! They are growing so quickly, and it is hard to believe that just next month, the twins will be 2 years old! Rumor has it that once they turn 4 years old, Paul and I will actually get some sleep again....but that doesn't mean I want the time to go by fast!

Anyway, we have been keeping busy. We got to see Isaac on Monday; he joined the boys at McDonald's. They had such a good time together, and words cannot even describe how cute they all were together! And today we got to meet a dear family friend--Jane Harrell--for lunch. She is the mother of Chris (one of Ryan's best and oldest friends), Nick, and Andrew Harrell. Having raised three boys herself, we found much common ground. It was wonderful to see both her and Isaac this week!

And now for the big news. I had to wait for Cortney to post the news on her blog first before I ran off and wrote about it on mine, but the wait is over and I can finally post it for the world to see. Anyway, Cortney and Aaron are expecting another little baby! They don't know the due date yet, but McKenzie is going to be a big sister! Congratulations...you know I'm crossing my fingers that it's twins!

And as if that wasn't big enough news, Jami and Noah are also expecting a baby due on August 25! 'Tis the season for baby making I guess! Congratulations to the Ingerling's, and PS, we need a girl in this family!

Well, I think the holidays wore me out of picture taking, so here are just a couple of pictures that I took today:

Check out this cool cat--Thomas loves his shades!

Lucas loves his shades too...but don't disturb him, he has work to do!

And here's Kevin, playing in my room with all of his Super Hero Figures--check out that line! It really is a shame that he has no toys :)

Happy Birthday Brittani & Marianne!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister Brittani and my amazing mother-in-law Marianne! You both are such beautiful, wonderful people and I am so thankful to have you both in my life! I hope your days are spectacular!

I have a couple of long-winded stories about the boys: a couple of weeks ago, Thomas did the funniest thing. I was changing Lucas’ diaper and as soon as I got his bottom bare, he took off and ran from me. He thought he was so clever, laying there on his bed with his nude little rump sticking up in the air. I kept encouraging him to come back so that I could finish the diaper changing process, but he just sat there and smiled at me, saying “No” repeatedly. Thomas just sat there staring at Lucas—probably proud of his brother for his deviant behavior.

I started to get frustrated with his lack of listening, and began my disciplinary ritual of counting to three (I slowly count to three and if they fail to listen by the time I get to three, then I give them a little swat on their bottoms). Anyway, I started counting…one…two….and then before I could say three, Thomas piped in and said, “THREE!”, and then he took his little hand and spanked Lucas! I couldn’t believe it! Little did Thomas know, that his action accomplished one thing only…it proved that he does in fact grasp my one-two-three tactic!

Lucas had a big accomplishment recently. It was the day after Christmas, and we took the boys to McDonald’s for lunch. We were joined by Grandma Traci, Ryan, Jordane, and Brittani. Usually, when we go to McDonald’s, Thomas and Kevin climb all through the play area and go down the slide. Thomas can even go through the entire play area without any help at all. There are actually some places where he has to use just the strength of his arms to pull his little body up, and he handles it like a pro. Kevin always runs up and down, in and out, having a ball and always looking for friends to play with. All the while this goes on, little Lucas is content hanging out on the exterior of the play area. There are three little steps that he likes to walk and practice walking down without use of his hands. And then he runs to this other platform and jumps on it a little bit. But he never goes in. And he always has just as much fun as the other two wild boys.

Anyway, this time was different. I don’t know if he wanted to impress his Uncle Ryan, or if he finally just gained confidence, but that little Lucas decided it was time to go into the play area. He climbed up the tubes and went down the smaller slide all by himself! We were shocked since we have always encouraged him to do so in the past with no success. But he did it multiple times. At one point, he even attempted to climb up to the bigger slide, but about half way there, he got a little scared and turned around and came back down. But what a big day for Lucas!

And I managed to get my first real taste of being the “uncool mom.” I dressed Kevin in a long sleeved gray shirt. Then I put on a short sleeved shirt over it. He looked down at his appearance, looked at me, and said, “I look absolutely ridiculous.” I tried to make him feel more comfortable in his clothing, and so I put on two shirts myself. I said, “See Kevin, mom is wearing two shirts too!” He looked at me, lowered his voice, and said, “Yeah, cause that’s what I want, to look like my mom.” Who knew that at 4 years old kids would already think their parents were uncool?

Little Lucas

Kevin Paul Krupp

Ornery Thomas

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, there is so much to talk about, but I will keep it short. We went to RENO for New Years, and what a crazy, fun time! We had a blast! Marianne’s brother, Howard, got married which was the purpose for the trip. The wedding was beautiful. And it was awesome to get to see many of the members of Paul’s family. I just wish we all lived closer so that we could see everyone more often! After the wedding, we went to our hotel which was in a casino. We indulged in the fun that the casino/hotel had to offer. It was really good for Paul and I to just get out and have some relaxed fun. But oh my gosh, did we miss those little boys of ours!

On December 30, Isaac had his 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday little Isaac! We love you so much very much and hope that you enjoy being 2! Here are a couple of pictures from Isaac’s birthday and our trip to Reno:

Cousins! Jake, Richard, Paul, Adam, and Jessica

What a wonderful family I joined!

The Bakke's (Tom, Marianne, Cheryl, and Howard)

Porter McHenry! and his girlfriend, Paul and myself

Dancing Fools

Cousin Jake and Jessica

Me and Jessica, wishing we could get our shoes shined

Jessica, on her mission to get pictures with random people...yes, that is the hotel cleaning crew

Thomas giving the birthday boy a ride around on the bike. Talk about double trouble!

Isaac and two of his favorite people!

Happy Birthday little Isaac!


Aren't they precious?

The birthday boy, pushing Lucas around in a car.

Jessica and Richard, practicing their dance move...they actually did get it right eventually!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

As expected, the Christmas season has kept us super busy:

On Monday night, we had our company Christmas party for the Triple B Ranch at the Bullard’s house. It was a ton of fun and consisted of a ping-pong/pool/Wii/air hockey tournament. Paul and I held our own, but just couldn’t beat Cortney and Aaron in ping-pong or Jackie and Kelly in Wii bowling.

On Tuesday, we went down to Grandma and Papa Seidl’s for a nice Christmas gathering. Then we went to Seven Falls to enjoy their beautiful display of Christmas lights. The boys seemed to enjoy it, but since the weather was really bad, we didn’t spend too much time outside. And we didn’t even attempt to climb the stairs this year!

On Wednesday, we went down to Papa and Grandma Slade’s and they took the boys to Chuckie Cheese’s. I think the boys love that place more and more each time we go! We also got to go to the Bullard’s house again to exchange gifts between the boys and McKenzie. They are all just so cute together! Thomas was very helpful in opening Kenzie’s gifts—more helpful than she probably wanted. And Lucas was so cute: one of Kenzie’s gifts was wrapped in Mickey Mouse wrapping paper, and he refused to let her open it so as not to rip his beloved Mickey Mouse. Kevin got to enjoy the gift that Brittani got for Rowdy (Kelly’s dog)—it was a sling shot that flings balls for the dog to play fetch. Unfortunately the balls were hard for Rowdy to find since Kelly was flinging them into inches of snow!

On Thursday, we got to enjoy a wonderful Christmas Eve at the Zeornes’. The boys were so cute and super excited. They loved the holiday festivities. We went to church prior to the gathering, and believe it or not, Lucas was the one in church that talked throughout the entire service! What a time for him to decide to be a chatterbox! It was truly an evening of family, friends, love, and giving. Kevin loved opening presents (go figure) and even made sure to help out the younger boys with opening theirs. Lucas was wound up and not shy at all, despite the houseful of over 30 people. And Thomas was Thomas, ornery, funny, and always smiling.

On Friday, Christmas was finally here! Kevin let us sleep in until about 6:45am (which was better than I was expecting). We had to wake up the twins, and then we all went out to the living room to see the wonderful gifts that Santa Claus brought the boys. They were all very excited, especially Kevin since Santa managed to bring him everything that he had hoped for. My mom, Ryan, Jordane, Britt (who had the flu), and Travis came over, and we exchanged gifts amongst ourselves and enjoyed a light holiday breakfast. Thomas was like a present opening machine—man did he rip that paper open!

Then we went over to the Krupp’s house and had an absolutely amazing Christmas day. The boys received more presents—Lucas especially loved his giant Spongebob and Patrick stuffed animals. He just hugged them and lugged them all over the house. We enjoyed great food and great company! I think we laugh the entire time when us Krupp’s get together! Before we brought the evening to a close, we went and enjoyed some more incredible food at the Stunkard’s house. Veronica sure can make some excellent Italian food!

Not wanting Christmas to end, on Saturday, Ryan and Jordane took us to a house down in Colorado Springs that was light up so marvelously that it was orchestrated to light up with the beat of music. The house actually has a radio station that airs the music, so you turn your car stereo to the station and then it plays the music so that you can look at the house from your car. The boys all piled on my lap and pressed their little faces to the window and were mesmerized by the lights. It really was spectacular! And they were so cute, and when the beat of the music picked up, they would dance right along with it! I think Paul and Ryan need to decorate our house with lights like that next year!

Well, that pretty much recaps the events of our Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful one!

Christmas with Grandma and Papa Seidl

Santa Claus at Seven Falls

Thomas helping Kenzie open her gifts

The 3 Krupp Boys and little Miss McKenzie

Brittani, Kelly, and McKenzie

All Dressed Up For Church

Kevin and Isaac

Presents!

Jami and Noah

The Leclercq's

The Krupp Family

Papa and Grandma

The Stunkard Family

Isaac and Lily

Ryan and Jordane

Brittani and Travis


Santa Claus sure came to our house!

Britt, Ryan, Bran, and Traci

Grandma Traci and Lucas

Thomas and Uncle Ryan

Lucas and his best friends: Spongebob and Patrick

Silly Thomas with a net from Kevin's game on his head

Mema and Jessica (sorry Jessica, I know you didn't want me to put any of you on the blog--but I couldn't resist)

Mema and Kevin

The Krupp Men