BABY DEDICATION!

On Saturday we had the privilege of dedicating our precious Lee to the Lord. It was a wonderful time and we knew no better joy than to announce publicly that we are raising him in the best way we know how.

Another amazing part of the night was that we also got to dedicate Lee with two other families here that we are close to, the Starks and the Malones. Congratulations to Kye, Noah and Lee!

Afterward we went out to eat as one big family....isn't that what Christian brothers and sisters are? Anyway, all three families had members of their family enjoy a meal at a nice pasta restaurant on the hill. Afterwards we had a big yummy cake for the boy's dedication that everyone enjoyed. (Lee especially! :) I wanted to share a piece with Lee (it was his cake after all) and ended up eating more of it that I did!) It was a great time with really great friends.



****Speaking of, friends and family if you were there and got some good pictures, would you send them my way? The photographer for us was sick and didn't get clear shots of the ceremony. THANKS!

CONGRATS Mr and Mrs Schaub!

We had such a great time this weekend at Nick and Christina's wedding. It was a very special (and emotional!) wedding. It was so great to see so many family members and friends come together for this special occasion.

Here are some highlights:

• DAYCARE offered for the kiddos in the bridal party (genus!)
• picking up the cheese and learning they don't accept cards, but they let us have it anyway (they said, "just pay us later!" Bad business method, but it we were grateful!)
• getting permission to take pictures in the library...even the old part that is shut off only for special occasions!
• posing with interesting title choices...i.e. Danielle Steele's "Toxic Bachelors"
• Jesse running off to buy decorations and Red Bull for the getaway car...including 2 "Hannah Montana" dolls
• Being informed to be the MC while driving to Indiana. I did as well as an unprepared unprofessional could do at last minute! :)
• Dave's (father of the bride) special surpirse song for Christina that made EVERYONE cry
• Bridesmaids, "lean forward....turn your head slightly...." :)
• Jesse dumping the whole bowl of birdseed on the happy couple (see above)

and something else I can't mention yet because it's still a surprise!

CONGRATULATIONS NICK and CHRISTINA SCHAUB!!!! <3

it's ALLIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Yep, I'm reviving this blog....check back for updates early and often! :)

South African Lingo

So there are over 23 languages in South Africa! Yes, almost everyone speaks English, but it's still not quite the same. For instance:

In SA In US
tomato Sauce = Ketchup
chips = french fries
crisps = chips
stolling = walking
robots = stoplights
disco = night club
snowfreeze = ice cream
let = rent
NGO's = non-for-profits
rocket = type of lettuce or small salad
pudding = cake
napkins = diapers or pads
wheelie bins = trash bins with wheels on them
trading hours = store hours
queue = to line up (like in school)
cheque = check (like check book or checking account)
servettes = napkins

Note that all of this is usually in some sort of British accent. :)

Hello from South Africa!

Hope everyone had a good laugh from the last post. I (Kristin) am in Cape Town, South Africa. It is so beautiful here. I love my apartment, the landscape, and most things so far! Today we went to Africa's most beautiful botanical garden....right next to Table Mountain. It gave us a great view of the city. I hope to post pictures soon, but it's late-seven hours later than you STL peeps.



Jesse and Lee, I miss you both so much...can't wait to skype soon. Thank God for emails and wifi!

I can't believe it

OKay so this is the text conversation I had tonight with Jesse on his way back home from his class...I'm not going to lie, it made me upset.

It starts with a picture that I sent to Jesse of Lee and I after Lee's bath...
K: I look like a hot mess
J: I see
K: Nooo...youre suppose to say I look hot, no mess
J: I don't think so
K: waaaaaaah
K: You are being mean
J: I think that was the intent of my reaction
K: Why are you being mean?
J: Hahaha what????

Okay so we didn't get this figured out until he came home....and showed me his phone. It went like this.

Pic with caption "He was really happy after the bath"
J: I see
K: I look like a hot mess
J: I don't think so
K: Nooo...youre suppose to say I look hot, no mess
K: waaaaaaah
J: I think that was the intent of my reaction
K: why are you being mean?
J: Hahaha what??

Yeah, it started with just one line was out of order and what do we get? ANOTHER HOT MESS! :) Okay, I'm not mad anymore. In fact, we shared such a great laugh about it that Jesse was literally rolling around on the ground laughing so hard that I had to say, "please don't die!"

So far this summer...

We went to the Meramec Caves...


Saw Momma graduate...


Saw the new home of our Indianapolis Colts...


Saw Aunt Moo Graduate and met Nick...


Got my first haircut!

More to come!!!!

it's been awhile

Sorry about the neglect of this page oh faithful followers! Life is a little busy-moving, finishing up school, Lee getting an ear infection every time we turn around! Yes, we are on ear infection number 4. He wasn't even done with the third one's antibiotics before the other one popped up. I did ask the doctor, and tubes aren't being considered, yet. Please pray for Lee's health.

I mentioned that we moved and I have to give a BIG thanks to our community group for helping with the move. It only took an hour and 40 minutes for the move (excluding packing and unpacking). How incredible!

In less than a month, I will be in South Africa. CRAZINESS!!! I am excited, nervous and can't believe that it's almost here...rather, that I'm almost there!

Pictures will come later....I just felt like I had to update this thing! Also, please let me know if you text and I can try to keep you updated in our lives that way. My dad and I text all of the time, and he's a great texter! Way to go Dad!

Screaming baby...again...

So since Lee has turned one, he had been plagued with illnesses. Two ear infections that I'm not positive that he's kicked yet and last Tuesday Lee got sick and from what we've gathered, a stomach bug. You'll love the details but I'll spare you. Anyway, around the same time, it has literally been a nightmare to put him down at night and to get him to sleep through the night. I feel like we've tried everything. Our methods include: standing next to the crib rubbing his back, letting him fall asleep in my arms and then trying to sneak him into his crib, singing/humming songs, stood there and made no sound but just put him down everytime he stood up (oh yes, he stand up in his crib now)...all with no luck. Tonight we are back to the good ol' Ferber method of letting him cry it out (T-minus 54 minutes but who's counting?). As any other mother might imagine, this is pure tourture for me. So I'm sitting out on our front porch typing this as a light rain is coming down while my bottom gets more numb by the minute. Oh, on the plus side, the lady who live above us just left, learning and laughing at my pain. Plus to add insult to injury, her dog is now howling. I feel your pain buddy.

Does anyone that's gone through this have any advice for us? My wonderful mother-in- law told me some encouraging advice, "As soon as you think you have them figured out, they will change." THAAAAAANKSSSSSS... (She really IS pretty great, but I didn't want to hear this!) :(

Easter babies!

Here are some picture of Lee and his friends. Thanks to the Malones for taking the church pictures, the Starks for the other pictures and yummy brunch. Todd, you just ate...so [*in a soup nazi voice*] no thanks to you! :)


Momma made sure his clothes looked nice, Noah made sure his face was clean. :)


Happy family


Baby Malone, Yuri, Lee and Noah after church


Lee and Noah swapping tall tales. I love this picture!

Happy Easter!

Lee enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt today. The "hunt" was sponsored by our church and I have to say I was impressed! They had the Easter bunny there, face painting, crafts, coloring, balloons, games and the egg hunt of course! Lee actually liked the bunny better than he did all of the other kids! He still did very well. The egg hunt was sectioned off for kids of different ages, but the bigger kids liked participating in all of the hunts. Lee didn't care though! When it was his turn with the other 1-2 year olds, he found two eggs! After this, he sat down where he was and happily played with them (with one egg in each hand) and his basket.

After this was over, they had a station where you could do a candy exhange. I've never seen this done before, but it was a great idea! We exchanged chocolate kisses and other goodies for animal cookies, teddy grahams and fruit snacks. This made for a happy baby and happy momma as well.

I am excited for tomorrow. We are planning a nice breakfast, dinner and church of course! Hope you and your families enjoy Easter and the grace that Jesus gives us-everyone of us, right now, just as we are.

HAPPY EASTER!

hAppY bIrThDaY LEe!

Can you believe that my little baby boy is one year old? We went to Indiana to celebrate with the Moores. It was nice, but it went by way too fast. Shortly before, our literally once removed puppy, which Jesse's family is so graciously dogsitting, bit Lee's GG (great-grandma). As a result, she was in the hospital taking a swift round of antibiotics. Luckily she got to come back home an hour before the party started. (A side note, I was preparing to move the party to her hospital room...streamers, balloons and all!)

An unexcepted good thing that came out of this incident was that I got to make Lee's first birthday cake. I secretly wanted to do this, but had handed it over to Lee's GG since she's been in the cake baking/decorating business for years. So with her in the hospital, I happily took back the reins. Of course Jesse's healthy eating habits have made an impact on me as I wanted to make this a healthy cake. For the sake of simplicity, I just switched the oil for applesause and used egg whites instead of whole eggs. As for it icing, I used cool whip and added blueberries for a healthy touch. (He loves blueberries anyway.) And would you know, he didn't even eat the actual cake part of the cake! :) I guess that's how it goes. He did love the cool whip and blueberries though!

Lee had a blast at the Moore farm. He got to play with his Aunt Moo and meet her boyfriend, see cows, and play with his grandparents and their toys; which were a new set of toys for him to explore and enjoy. He even started drinking some whole milk mixed in his formula. Yes, we are weaning him with success to my surprise. You should have seen his face when he first tried milk! Now he drinks it like no one's business. Meanwhile, I think the fresh air did Lee some good because he really broke out of his shell and now is not only walking everywhere, but is also babbling a little bit more and really seems like a different boy. It was really nice to be able to walk around without him clinging to my legs or crying everytime I walked out of his sight. He did so well that Jesse and I got to go out on, not one, but two, date nights. We are spolied now, but it was really nice to reconnect with one another.

While back in Indiana, I didn't get to see everyone but I did get to see some people that I haven't seen in years which was a great surprise. It's weird to see my friends from high school's child play with my child. Maybe our kids will be friends too! Well, I feel as if I am rambling so here are some pics from the weekend.

Look who's WALKING!

Welcome Aiden Joesph!

I'm an aunt again! Here is my brother's new beautiful baby boy-Aiden Joseph!

Congrats Jonathon!

Snow day hooray!

We had a snow day today so we had to go outside and check it out...even if we were only outside for about five minutes!

Spaghetti!

Lee got into some spaghetti and before I cleaned him up, I did what any good mom would do...I grabbed the camera! Enjoy!

Spaghetti? What spaghetti?

Aren't you proud I can feed myself?

One last bite....

Lee's first Christmas!! part two

Here are pictures from our Christmas time at the Moore's. Enjoy!

My favorite boys. Very excited for Christmas...or something like that. LOL!


Lee and his GG.




Lee and his grandpa (whom he was named after).

Lee and his grandma. I think she is having more fun with his toys that he is!

Daddy and baby.

Lee's first Christmas!! part one

Lee had a great first Christmas! We first celebrated with "just us" here in St. Louis and then we also went to Indiana to spend time with Jesse's family. It was a great time with a lot of great food and fun. Lee enjoyed getting to spend time with his grandparents, even though they ALL were sick. Luckily he stayed healthy-a true Christmas miracle if you ask me!

Cookies? Santa doesn't want more stinkin' cookies! :)
Here Lee is setting puffs out for Santa.


The puffs worked! Santa came! (Christmas morning)



Lee and his stocking.



We had to help him upwrap presents...mainly to make sure he didn't eat the wrapping paper!



to be continued....