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

Monday, June 29, 2009

Have you had your Abe, today?
An Abe a day keeps the doctor away!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The four Gizzy's relaxing on the floor after a fun filled weekend! Happy father's day daddy! We love you! :)
Eden and Kodi were playing sharks in the water and shark-man Kodi caught fishy Eden.

Mommy buried Abram in the sand at the beach on Father's day, he had fun playing and asa bonus, didn't eat too much sand!


Abe loves to suck his thumb :)




Eden and Kodi playing at the park :) Say cheese! (they are cute as pie!)



Kodi the mechanic is working under the hood and Eden the mechanic is busy rotating the tires of our new blue car!


Kodi working as a mechanic at Betty Brinn Children's museum.


Kodi with his 5th grade teacher, Mr. Henscher, on the last day of school (it was crazy hair day)



Eden with her teacher, Mr. Honigman on the last day of school
Sorry it's been so long since I last updated our blog. School is now out and we are all enjoying the heat of summer (and air conditioning :D). This week is the first week of Kodi and Eden's summer school sessions. Eden has chosen to take German and Science this summer and Kodi is enjoying his science and phy ed classes. Kodi was hoping to take German also, but unfortunately there were not enough 5/6 graders interested, so his class got cancelled.

Matt has been enjoying his paternity leave so far and has been working for his brother Mike, a few days a week. He is sporting a nice tan from being outside painting/power washing all day. For father's day this past Sunday, I cooked Matt, the kids, and the 3 bike racers who were crashing with us this past week (they took off today) breakfast. Then our family went to church, where Matt almost won the contest of the father with the youngest child (he was beat out by a daddy of a 9 week old). In the afternoon, the 5 of us went to Lannon Quarry for some swimming and playing on the beach. All 3 of the kids had a blast swimming (yup, Abe went swimming for the first time and he liked being in the water - though he didn't like it when the back of his head got wet). For Matt's father's day gift, the kids painted a corn hole game for him and I made the bean bags outfitted with Abe's footprints. This evening Kodi, Matt, and I all enjoyed a few rounds of corn hole before retiring inside to relax in front of the television.

I have been trying to work a bit more this week and so work has been keeping me a bit busier than normal. But work is going well and I really do enjoy what I do, so that is an added bonus. Today I went out to Johnson's Creek outlet mall with a few friends and their babies for a bit of shopping. I scored a cute summer dress at the Gap for only $8 (sweet deal!). I also picked Abram up an outfit for fall with says Daddy's All Star on it (which Matt was excited to see).

Kodi and Eden were excited to have "their best babysitter ever" Hillary Gardner today. She spent the day with Kodi and Eden while I was shopping with my friends. They liked that she played with them and took them out to lunch.

Abram is as happy as can be. Though this week he has started sleeping on his stomach but he wakes up unhappy as he hasn't quiet learned to roll back to his back yet and so he gets "trapped" and cries for someone to "rescue" him. He still enjoys playing on his Baby Einstein play mat and also in her exersaucer. I absolutely adore cuddling with him and today we spent a lot of time enjoying each others company. Sometimes I feel like I could just cuddle him and kiss him forever. I am amazed as I look back over the past 20 weeks of my life. Everything has changed so much and my life has such a different meaning now. I feel so blessed to have my little angel (and my two big angels and husband also!).

That's all for now :). I hope you all are enjoying your summer! Stay cool and wear sunscreen :)
Love,
Beth