Sunday, September 13, 2009


Grandma Nancy cooking the tomatoes on the stove...we ended up with about 5 pots of tomatoes for soup and sauce!
Canning tomatoes 2009 with my mom and our neighbor Irene...we had tomatoes coming out of our ears!
Abe loves to play with the pots and pans in the kitchen :)

Daddy with a very sleepy Abram after my cousin Martha's wedding (August 09).


Kodi and his friends (Alton and Sam) at 6th grade orientation



Eden and her 3rd grade teacher Ms. Murphy




The girls in Chicago for Kim's bachelorette party (from Left to Right, me, Anna , Sarah (my sister), Kim, and Alison. (all are friends from high school). We just finished doing Pilate's in the park.




Abe and his toy basket :) He loves to pull toys out and play with them.






Breakfast with the girls (college roommates, the two Megans and their babies, Sophia and Will)




Fall is here!

Wow! Time sure does fly by quickly! It is hard to believe that September is already half way over!!! What's new in the Gissibl household....

September is always a busy travel month for Matt...at the beginning of the month he spent a week in Germany for the Eurobike show. Then next week he heads down to Vegas for the Interbike show. It sounds like his traveling requirements are going to pick up this year as they are seeking to increase business. Matt has been enjoying riding his bike (as usual) and had a pretty killer race today (he actually took out a tree...), he is sitting next to me on the couch recovering. 5 hours after the race, he is finally feeling a bit better. :) This weekend we have our annual Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival bike race up in Hayward, WI. Matt has his preferred start this year, so hopefully this race will be promising.

Kodi is now in 6th grade and has had a decent start to the school year. The homework load is starting to increase, which makes for some long evenings of studying. Kodi has had a great attitude about it so far and has really applied himself. Hopefully he will have a successful first year. I was personally surprised with his vocab words -- Matt and I had to look up a few in the dictionary to make sure they were spelled correctly (superintendent, demagnetize...). Soccer has kicked into full gear and he had his first tournament this weekend. They didn't win any games (but they were playing level A and B teams and Kodi's team is a C team), but they all played very well. I caught the last half of his game today and saw his team score 2 points -- bonus!

Eden is now in 3rd grade and is loving her teacher, Ms. Murphy. 3rd grade marks a big transition for the kids in Tosa. It is the year where the parents are expected to begin helping less and the kids are now responsibile for so much more. It will be fun to watch Eden grow as she makes this tranisiton. Matt is coaching E's team this year and their practices have begun. Her first game is this weekend. We shall see how they do this year as a team.

Abram is a moving and a shaking now. A busy little body that keeps his mama a running! He is now crawling like made and is pulling himself up to a stand with ease. He likes to walk when we are holding his hands but he has made no attempts (thank goodness...it's too soon!) to do so on his own. He is 7 months old already and I am just shocked at how quickly time passes! This next weekend, Abe will be in MN with his grandparents (my family) while Matt and I are at our bike race in Hayward.

Let's see, that leaves me..not much new in the life of Beth. Abram has been keeping me pretty busy, that is when I am not at work. I have the house childproofing almost finished...Abe loves to play with the pots and pans in the kitchen. I am looking forward to a weekend up north with Matt this weekend. Abe has been getting better with sleeping through the night...though he still occassionally wakes up crying around 2am. Last night he didn't, so I am praying that tonight he will sleep through the night.

Well, it's time for me to hit the hay...tomorrow is another day :)
Thanks for reading up on us Gissibls'

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Mommy's first weekend away from the family...

That's right, tomorrow late morning, I will be heading out of town for the weekend for a surprise bachelorette party for my dear friend Kim....as far as she knows right now we are going to an Amish farm (wink, wink). The 5 of us are all super excited to relax with one another, site see, and of course go out dancing! I am hoping I will do well being away from Abram for the weekend. Poor daddy is feeling a bit under the weather, so hopefully he will fair up nicely with all 3 kids :).

Next Wednesday, Kodi has his orientation to junior high. He is so excited to ride his bike to school and to be in middle school. Wow, it is sad how fast they grow up! Hopefully he will still have time for Matt and I this year :).

Soccer practice is also almost ready to begin (Kodi started this past Saturday and Eden starts the first week of school). Matt is coaching E's team and Kodi is playing on the Tosa Select C team.

Let's see,...what else is new here in the wonderful world of Gissibls. Abram is now sitting on his own, he loves eating his veggies (so far we haven't found one he doesn't like), and he is also as happy as ever! This morning the two of us went to baby yoga at Destination Maternity and we had a blast! We have not been able to go since June (as Kodi and Eden are normally at our house on Thursdays, but they are on vacation with mommy this week), it was a little more of a challenge this week as Abe is much more mobile then he was in the past. He has a nice starter crawl going and if he sees something he really wants, he can find it :).

This afternoon, Abe and I are heading to the mall to get his 6 month pics done. I'm praying he will be happy after his nap :)

I hope all is well for all of you! Thanks for checking in on us!
Beth

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Hot Hot Hot


It was a hot and steamy weekend here in Tosa. Today, Matt, Kodi, and Eden went on our annual church bike ride (which Matt organizes). Unfortunately with the hot, humid weather, it was too warm for Abram outside, so the two of us stayed home. Lucky for me took a nice long afternoon nap allowing me to clean our house :). We are all tired here tonight and we will most likely play a board game or watch a movie after dinner.


It felt really good to have a weekend at home...it isn't very often that we are around Tosa all weekend and it was especially nice to not have any "running around" to do. On Saturday, I worked, and Matt took the kids to the State Fair. Then we had ice cream cones at Nana's house later Saturday night. Friday, Matt had a half day of work, so did some yard work and then played UNO.


Let's see...we are starting to think about going back to school. Kodi is super excited to start 6th grade and is even more excited to ride his bike to Longfellow Middle School. Eden is slowly warming up to the idea of school starting again, this past week she found out she will have Mrs. Murphy (who is one of the wonderful 3rd grade teachers, who is super cool -- Kodi had her a few years ago). Even better yet, Eden's best friend Lilly is in her class. It is of note that Lilly hasn't been in Eden's class since junior Kindergarten. So the girls are very excited for that. Only about 3 more weeks until school starts.


Not much else is going on in the Gissibl family right now. Abe is getting bigger everyday. He had his 6 month check up last week and is now close to 28 inches long and is 17 1/2 pounds. Tonight we are going to start him on sweet potatoes, which I am sure he will love :).


Have a great week everyone!


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

July 28 already? Time flies when you are having fun!

Hey everyone,
Our apologies for not updating the blog much this month. Lots of changes, vacation, and fun times have filled our house this summer. Matt has the luxury of taking a 6 week leave from work this summer and unfortunately had to return to work yesterday. He was pretty tired last night after working a full day in the office. It was very nice having him around the house this summer and the kids and I will miss that.

When I came home from work yesterday evening, Matt informed me that Abe is sprouting his first teeth! YEAH! Another milestone :). His lower two front teeth are just starting to poke out from his gum. Abe also is a busy bee exploring all his surroundings. He is beginning to scoot (usually when he wants a toy or when no one is looking) and is actively rolling. Matt also noted that Abram is starting to pull himself up to the crawl position, though he doesn't last here long. Soon enough we will be chasing Abram around the house. Time to get serious about baby proofing! (So far the living room is in check).

Early in July, Matt, the kids and I took a week long vacation together as I playfully call "Family Fun Week 2009". Our vacation started out with the long drive up to Hayward, WI where we stayed with one of our dear friends, Tim Swift, for a few nights. Tim has a wonderful little "house" cabin in the woods. We love his quiet retreat. Kodi especially loves hiking with Tim's dogs and helping them hunt for chippy's and mice. Eden and I spent an afternoon together to go to my favorite jewelry shops (Firefly).

One night we also embarked on a camping trip at a National Park campsite. It was on this peninsula with the Namakogan River flowing around us. It was truly a beautiful site. Abram and I dropped Matt, Kodi, and Eden off 4 miles up the river so they could kayak and tube to our campsite. What Matt thought would be a less than an hour trip turned into a three hour tour for them...their river trip had its ups and downs but left the three of them with many smiles and memories to laugh about. While they were tubing, I took little Abe swimming and he had a blast kicking around in his little innertube in the water. Kodi and Eden both love camping and after our one night adventure, I think I can prematurely say that Abe will love camping also.

After our 5 days up in Hayward we packed the car up and headed to Minnesota 2 days with my family. Our motive for this trip was to have a surprise birthday party for Grandma Nancy on Saturday, July 11. She was surprised and really enjoyed the party. Kodi, Eden, and Abe helped me to distract Grandma with a trip to the Mall of America. In addition to the party, the kids all enjoyed swimming in Angie and Marvins pool.

Our family fun week 2009 concluded with our second annual block party back here in Tosa. All our neighbors gathered outside for a fun day filled with relays, water games, basketball, good food, and fellowship.

Abe is sitting here next to me on all fours rocking back and forth. I am so excited for him to begin crawling. I have to get him down for a nap. I'll try to write more before summer is over and I"ll upload pics later.

Take care!
B

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy 4th of July!

Abe's play group friends :)


Daddy with Abe in his kelty backpack
Fun at the parade!











We hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekends! It was just Matt, Abe, and myself this weekend as Kodi and Eden were at their mom's house. Saturday morning we met up with the Gissibl Clan at the Wauwatosa 4th of July parade. Matt and I parked at Starbucks, picked up a couple of beverages and enjoyed a nice walk over to the parade site where we had breakfast with Matt's family (thanks Nana for the yummy treats!). Abram was very tired for the parade (as he was up most of the night, who knows why, maybe teething???). But even though he was tired he still had fun watching the firetrucks and everything else going on.

Tomorrow morning we are heading out for our family vacation. We will be starting our week off up in Hayward at Swiftys house where we are excited to enjoy the great outdoors. If the weather cooperates we will hopefully be camping for one night (which Kodi and Eden are both super excited for!). We all love the peaceful atmosphere of Hayward and are looking forward to just enjoying time together as a family.

Our week will be finished up in Minnesota where we will spend a night with Grandma and Grandpa (and of course see the kids' aunties and uncles). Then next Sunday we are having our second annual block party.

It will be a busy end to our family vacation but it will be a fun one :).

Love you!
B