The Poppletons

Tap, tap....is this thing on?

2010-07-04T11:26:00.002-05:00

Hi friends,

I'm sure you've long given up on this blog. If you read this, good for you, you're a person of incredible faith and hope!

Our kids continue to grow like weeds. In our last micro-update, we let you know that Jackson started walking at 10 months. He sure hasn't looked back since (if he did he'd surely see a path of destruction behind him)! Kallie is growing up to be quite the "big girl" - no more booster seat, regular use of the potty, all those liberating things that parents dream about.

Both the kids are ultra-sweet (if I do say so myself), mostly obedient, great sleepers, and masters of the routine. Jackson still clocks two naps a day, and you could almost measure his nighttime sleep with a calendar. I love kids that sleep!

Life is going to get even more entertaining this August, when Kari delivers baby #3! We're obviously excited and slightly apprehensive about adding another to the mix. Jackson will be about the same age that Kallie was when Jackson was born (if that makes sense). Kallie is sure to be a big help as always.

I'm going to be turning 30 this year, but I don't mind. I definitely feel that I've lost a step (or six) in the past few years, but that's mainly due to lack of exercise. For some reason, chasing kids around the house doesn't qualify as a cardiovascular workout! I think my long-term fitness goal is to be more fit at 40 (or 31) than 30. Recently I've been dropping a few extra pounds, mainly by declining to join my pregnant darling with her evening snacks. She's served notice that after the baby is coming, both of us are going to be doing lots of sit-ups. Yikes!

At work, there were some lean times through the recession and the rebound has been slower than expected. I'm very busy right now, and even working some overtime. Kari continues to be a stay-at-home mom, loving every minute of it. In her "free time" she started a small home-based business making products for babies, kids and moms. If you haven't heard about it, check out www.snugglywunkins.com . We did a craft show earlier this spring, and she sells her products in a couple of local stores. This fall, she's planning to do a few more craft shows and we'll just see how it goes. I'm very proud of her for doing this because it gives her a creative outlet.

I'm sure there's so much more to say, but someone wants to play "Candyland". :)

Hello World (again)

2009-11-18T00:54:00.002-06:00

Is it November already? At least I'm on schedule for my annual post. I just took a few minutes to review my post from last year. So, to recap our lives since then:

We still have two kids, though they are significantly larger and more mischievous than their photos from last year indicate
Kallie is probably in the descent from the pinnacle of the "terrible twos"
Jackson started to walk at 10 months.
We still live in the same house
We finished painting said house, and even painted three sides of the exterior just for fun
I (Eric) finally caved and signed up for a FaceBook account (though I give my profile as much attention as this blog, ahem)
we traded in our car and bought a van, which we love!

I just realized that I shouldn't give away all these details, I'm cutting down on available material for the Christmas letter. Maybe I'll get that out before Christmas this year. No wait, I think I actually made it last year....maybe not....well, clearly I'm a confused individual. Cut me a break, I've got a few kids to chase after.

Our annual update

2008-11-29T17:07:00.006-06:00

It's really quite pathetic when it comes to this...annual updates. Such is life with two under 2 years old (more on that later). With never enough precious sleep, I (Eric) feel pretty darn unmotivated to put posts and pictures on the blog. I don't even email that much anymore (sorry everyone!).

Well, the Poppleton clan now numbers four. Jackson came along in late October, and we are all very happy about this. Kallie is thrilled with her little brother, and she is pretty unaffected by his crying. I don't think she's woken from a nap or nighttime sleep because of it (shhh, don't tell other parents).

It's hard to believe that he's already a month old! Time definitely flies. We were only in he hospital for a day and a half this time (hooray!). Everything this time around was, shall we say, quicker (delivery included). Sorry to all the birth story addicts out there, this is the man's version. We were actually overdue, and went to the hospital to be induced. We went into the hospital for our first dose in the evening, went home, and were supposed to come back the next morning. Yeah, about that. So, we went home, and Kari woke up early in the morning to labour pains. She woke me up at about 4:30, and we left the house at about 5:00am (yes, there is a 5:00am, I know this because I have small people in the house!) after we had taken care of important matters like taking out the garbage. By the time we left the house, Kari's contractions were a wee bit more intense than either of us thought (or gave attention too apparently). So, we drove to the hospital, which, thankfully at 5:00 am is only about 22 minutes away (but who's counting). As we were walking across the parking lot the emergency room entrance (which is the only hospital entrance open at that hour), Kari felt the baby coming. Yes, as in this turkey is going to come out in a few minutes! Thanks to some swift action by the security guard at the emergency room entrance (who clearly cannot be blamed for not wanting to deliver a baby) and his trusty wheelchair, we made it up to the obstetrics unit and Jackson was born a few minutes later. Triage? Pretty much skipped that. Drugs? Way too late for that. A flurry of nurses took care of us and delivered the baby. It all happened amazingly fast.

So here's the star of the show, little Jackson, our little "pumpkin". We actually had to go back to the hospital a few days after he was born to get him treated for high biliruben (sp?) levels. So, basically they stuck him in an incubator and treated him with some special lights. That was not so much fun, especially for Kari, who stayed with him in the hospital while he screamed his little heart out for being in the incubator. We are so grateful that this is behind us.

Kallie loves Jackson, and she is going to be a great big sister!

That's all for now. Please don't be upset if we don't respond to comments for a like a million years. If you know us, email us! (that will cut down our response time to days instead). ;)

P.S. Did I mention we moved this summer? That's a story for another day (famous last words)

Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

2008-01-20T23:15:00.000-06:00

Our sweet, happy little girl...

...who is sometimes a wee bit dramatic...

...and who sometimes doesn't want her picture taken! :)

And we love her to bits!! She is so busy now... crawling all over the house, pulling herself up on anything she can grab, attempting to climb stairs, learning new words, and jamming every little thing she can find into her mouth!

Baby vs. Baby - Part II

2007-11-20T17:06:00.000-06:00

Needless to say, Kallie was defiant. During the car ride home, she defiantly stuck out her tongue (we assume at Josiah for his relentless jabs) as if to call for a rematch - this time on her turf.
Kallie has always been a very determined child. To prepare for her rematch, she embarked on a rigorous exercise regimen (insert "Rocky" music here).

After working her core muscles on the jolly jumper, she moved to the exersaucer and practiced her balance and putting up her dukes.

With her exercise regimen well in hand, Kallie turned to solid food for more calories, vitamins, and minerals!

With her body quickly coming into shape, Kallie turned to mental preparation, and of course, practicing mean faces...Grrr!!

Finally, the big day came. Josiah, Krista, and Evan (shown here as the referee) came to Winnipeg to visit for a few days. The picture below shows the "weigh in", where each competitor attempts to psych out his/her opponent by acting tough.

The moment is upon us....Kallie says "bring it on!!"

Stay tuned.......

Baby vs. Baby

2007-10-27T22:12:00.000-05:00

Kari and I took Kallie for a drive up to The Pas to visit Evan (oh so handsome), Krista, and Josiah. This is about a 600 km trip, which unfortunately took something like 8-8.5 hours due to bathroom stops, feeding stops (no solids for Kallie yet), and the like. Kallie was not impressed with being in a car seat for so long.

Kari and I had been planning to visit Evan & Krista since they moved there a few years ago, but it never really worked out until now. What better time to go than when the black flies and other bugs are out in droves? It made stopping for feeding visits a little tricky, as somehow we had to get Kallie from the back to the front (or Kari from the front to the back of the car) without letting many bugs into the car. Somehow we managed.

It was a great visit, we got to visit a few of the sites, such as this charming lake. In the picture, Kallie and Josiah are hanging out with their mommies via front baby carriers.

This little excursion also gave Evan and I a reasonably perfect excuse to don our Tilley hats.

Back at the ranch, we put the babies on the floor so that they could play together (read: we could take some pictures of them together). What ensued is what babies normally do when you put them together without a referee - baby jabs and wrasslin'!

I think Kallie got the worst of it. We have since put her on a rigorous training regimen for the rematch in Winnipeg (to follow - hopefully not in the same way that Louisiana pictures and Vancouver Part II "followed").

So, about this whole blog thing

2007-10-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

"What happened to 'Vancouver Part II'?" This is what my brother barbs me with. Okay, okay, so we haven't put up a post in a while (96 days, but who's counting?), we admit it. I may have some excuse, as when I logged in tonight, it appears that I was no longer a contributor to this blog. Hmmm.

Vancouver Trip - Part One

2007-07-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

Eric left at the beginning of July to head to Calgary for work, and then moved on to Vancouver a couple of days later! Kallie and I joined him on July 5th - and I must say, the flight went so much better than I thought it would! Kallie seemed completely fine with the plane ride, as well as with being woken at 5:45am! She smiled at everyone at the airpot, at the security officers, the flight attendants, etc., and had a nice two-hour nap once we were in the air! :)
Once we got all settled into the hotel (we stayed at a very swanky hotel - the one with the white sails in the above picture...yay for last minute travel deals!) and Eric headed back to work, Kallie and I had a quick nap and headed off to the Aquarium in Stanley Park. It was about a 50 minute walk from the hotel, and we had arrived in Vancouver for their heat wave, so we were pretty toasty! We had a lot of fun and saw all sorts of marine critters! We headed back to the hotel in the early evening, and had a wonderful visit with my friend Heather!

On Friday we walked back to the park, this time to meet up with more friends! Susan, her parents, and her two beautiful kiddies (Julia and Samuel), and Malcolm all came in from Abbotsford for a visit and picnic in the park. It was so nice to catch up with these two dear friends from my time in Sweden 5 years ago (yikes, I can't belive it's been that long!). This is a picture of Kallie with Samuel - she's 11 days older than him!

Stay tuned for part two...

Almost 4 months...

2007-07-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

These photos were from a few weeks ago, right before Kallie hit 4 months old!

She's already a very accomplished pouter...

Grandma gave her a new little bath toy that tells you if the bath temperature is too warm for delicate skin...Kallie was more than a little suspicious of it, and spent the entire bath staring at it like this...and then swatted at it and knocked it over! She's a thinker, this one!

My girl sure loves her bumbo - I think it makes her feel very grown up to be sitting on her own!

And the thunder rolled...

2007-06-19T22:06:00.002-05:00

I think my country music-lovin' husband would be proud of me for the Garth Brooks reference! It ic currently POURING rain, thunder and lightening are grumbling and flashing - it's really quite impressive! All is well in our neck of the woods! We had a wonderful first Father's Day for Eric - he had a chance to spend lots of time with his little sweetpea, as I was leading worship at our morning service so he got to pull baby duty! She had a couple moments of meltdown, which I could hear from where they were in the church lobby all the way up at the front where I was sitting (and, if you've never been to our church, it's really, really big!!). Oh well, no harm done, and we had a peacefully sleeping baby by the end of the service! My mom, dad, sister, brother in law and grandma all came over for dinner that night, and we had a lovely time visiting and celebrating Eric and my dad!

Kallie has been back to laughing again. Last night Eric was bouncing her on his knee and singing a little song, and she was having the time of her life! I tried to take a video of it, but of course she stops as soon as she sees the camera! So cute, though! I think that's definitely one of the best sounds in the world!

So, we managed to survive without Eric, but we sure did miss him a lot! He ended up making a trip to Ikea for me (which is almost as good as going myself...well, maybe not...I sure love Ikea!) and bringing home some fun things for around the house! He's also turned into a big softie and showed up with a stuffed elephant for Kallie! He's going to be heading out of town again in a couple of weeks, first to Calgary and then Vancouver. The down side is that he will be gone for half of the long weekend, but the plus side is that I will be flying out to join him in Vancouver!! yay!! We were really hoping he'd be heading there this summer, so Kallie could meet her great-Oma and great Aunt (and so I can meet Oma!), and also so she can meet Heather, my dear friend that now calls Vancouver home! It should be a lovely (although quick!) trip, and it will nice not to be apart for a whole week! Sadly my parents and sister are also out of town when Eric heads to Calgary, but we'll keep ourselves busy!

While Eric was away we had our prenatal class reunion, and all nine couples showed up and proudly showed off their new additions! The babies are all amazingly cute, and it was really interesting to hear about everyone's labour and delivery. Turns out that of the nine of us, 4 had c-sections and 5 were induced - only three of us had unassisted, "normal" deliveries! I think from the sounds of it, we definitely had the best birth and hospital experience - sadly there were lots of problems that people encountered, both medically and in terms of the care they received. It was great to see everyone, though, and to enjoy these nine new delightful little ones!

On another exciting note, we should be getting our piano within the next week or so! For those of you who have not heard the story, my pastor's wife got a baby grand for her house and loaned her piano out to our director of worship ministries, who just inherited a piano of her own! Lee thought of us and asked if we would like to borrow it for a while - to which I said yes, yes, yes, and then hung up the phone and did a happy dance! I'm so excited to be able to play a real piano again! I want Kallie to get used to hearing it while she's still little, and hopefully have a chance to teach her when she's older! The other plus to this is that our TV will be moving into the basement (so the piano can have the place of honour in the living room!), so we're thinking it will be less of a temptation that way! Now if only the basement was finished being remodeled!! haha ... nothing like some pressure to get work done!! :)

3 months today!

2007-06-09T14:13:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right - the little one is now officially three months old! She has had a very busy past couple of weeks! Some highlights are:
- Her first belly laugh! Aunt Kristina and I were giving Kallie a bath and my lovely sister was making all sorts of faces at her - and out came a big ol' laugh! (We won't mention that I was all excited and opened the door quickly to get Eric to come up and scared the heck out of my little one...oops!)
- Figuring out toys! She has moved quickly from picking up and swinging rings to petting stuffed animals and such! It's so neat to see her discovering so many new things!
-Sleeping longer! She's always been a pretty good sleeper, but for two weeks now has been sleeping 7-8 hours in a row at night! We know this won't always be the case, but we sure are appreciating it now!
-Feeling better! We've only had to use her tummy medication once in a while now, as she's been feeling much better overall. She's such a happy little kid!
-Reading! Well, okay not really, but she seemed pretty interested in this book!

-Meeting her cousin! Evan, Krista and Josiah were here for a visit, and we all had a lovely time!

The kids didn't seem to be bothered by their differing schedules and we managed to get a few really great pictures of them!

Next week will be a challenging one for me, as Eric is embarking on his first business trip. I'm sure Kallie and I will do just fine flying solo, but we're sure going to miss him! Thankfully he'll be back on Friday so he won't have to miss his first father's day! Take care, all!

The Little Lady's Tea Party

2007-05-15T20:58:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures from the tea party two weekends ago! Above is our darling girl looking all sweet in an outfit from her Auntie Heather (with a turtleneck added...it was cold and rainy the day of the party!). Thanks Heather!! Below, Miss Kallie with Val (one of my mom's best friends).....

The proud auntie (and hostess) with her buddy Ella....

The proud mama with her little sweetpea.....

More pics to come later!!

Busy, busy, busy!

2007-05-14T20:11:00.000-05:00

The proud papa - with his little girl looking at him so adoringly!

The last few weeks have flown by so quickly, mostly because of all that has been going on!! Last weekend my sister and mom threw little miss Kallie a tea to celebrate her arrival, and we had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends who loved a chance to meet her! Sadly, I don't have any pictures at the moment, but hopefully I can get some up tomorrow! Kallie was a little champ and entertained everyone with her beautiful smiles and "chatting" - and we were incredibly blessed with amazingly generous gifts for daughter!

Last week was Kallie's first immunizations, and she also handled that really well. She cried for a couple of seconds after the second, more painful needle, but aside from that she didn't show any side effects from the shots or immunizations themselves! Her tummy troubles have also seemed to be subsiding (thanks to the medication she's on), and our very happy girl is back again! She is also gaining weight at an incredible rate, and last Friday was up to 10lbs, 9oz - yup, that's almost two pounds in three weeks. Plus she's grown 2.5" and is now 23" long! We're so proud!! :)
Yesterday was my first mother's day - how exciting to get to celebrate a new holiday!! :) We had a lovely dinner at Kristina and Dave's house with his parents, my parents, my grandma, uncle and us. Thanks Kris and Dave for a delightful dinner, and the bath pillow (I've always wanted one, and now when I get time for a bath it will be so much more relaxing!). Eric also gave me a very thoughtful gift - dance lessons!!! (As I said, I'm addicted to "Dancing with the Stars"!) The picture below is of Kallie in her Mother's Day outfit, conked out before my parents babysat while we were at church yesterday morning. That service marked my return to the worship team since well before Kallie was born, and it was lovely to get back into the swing of things.

I have also had the opportunity to stay busy with some other new mommys, and am so enjoying the mom's groups I've been attending. It's great to have the support of people going through the same thing, and I've been learning a lot about what is to coming in the next months!

Just to clear things up...

2007-04-29T23:01:00.000-05:00

Yes - I, Kari, am a lazy blogger! The last three entries were written by myself, not Eric - for those of you that don't know me, the easy way to identify that is by what my husband describes as an overabundance of exclamation points in my writing (in response to these accusations I stand firm in the fact that I only write how I talk - and since you can't see my hands waving about, the exclamation points will have to convey my excitement!). I will try hard not to steal his identity anymore... Is there a corner that all of the bad bloggers have to stand in? If so, I might need to find my dunce cap..... :)

Visiting!

2007-04-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Kallie had a chance to meet her other set of grandparents this week when Eric's parents came down for a visit from Saskatoon! We had a lovely time catching up, walking around the conservatory at the park, eating, watching the "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol" results shows (I have become very attached to both!) and enjoying little Kallie! We also spent some time out in our backyard, enjoying the volunteered extra hands to get our yard in shape for nicer weather! We were busy visiting and forgot to take more pictures, but here is a taste of what happened in the yard!

One of the wonderful things about Mum visiting is that she brings with her an abundance of knowledge of all things plant-like! Here, Eric is having a consultation with the gardening guru (probably about our out-of-control raspberry bushes that you can see at the right of the picture!)

Our out of control bush/tree (that I liked before it started to take over the yard, and Eric hated) is now only about a foot high- a great compromise so we can try to keep it in line this year!

I know that there was no before picture of the shrub, but you can imagine how big it was when you look at how long those sticks are! Last year I affectionately dubbed it "Audrey II" - for any of you who have seen "Little Shop of Horrors", you'll know that Audrey II is a man-eating plant...I definitely had my suspicions when it grew over 6 feet tall in one year!
Hopefully we'll have another chance to visit soon - it's wonderful to get to enjoy family time!!

Pictures!

2007-04-29T21:52:00.000-05:00

Still reeling from my major blog blunder (again, sorry everyone...we're really not snobs, I promise!!), I thought I would try to make restitution by offering up a whole bunch of pictures of Kallie and such from the past couple of weeks (hey, the cute baby has to help smooth everything over, right?). She's now seven weeks old, and as of Friday weighed a whopping 9lbs 4oz! Now to those of you that have had or seen giant babies that were born bigger than that (and yes, you know who you are!), this does not sound like a major accomplishment, but considering the little miss was down to 6lbs 10oz at one point, she's really holding her own! To me she looks huge, as she had a growth spurt this week and I think she actually grew in front of our eyes!! So here we go...

I know what you are all thinking - wow, that is a very flexible child!! Ah, your eyes deceive you - those are her little hands! She figured out how to get those cute little no-scratch mitts off of her little hands in about 1 day, so we resorted to the stretchy socks to save her face from scratches (do you know that the hospital does not have nail cutters that you can use?). This round of sock wearing is actually due to thrush...she figured out how to suck on her fingers and thumb (sometimes all at once) and we did not want her to keep re-infecting herself so out came the socks. Maybe she thought she was at a hockey game, doing the wave? :)

Kallie is starting to enjoy her carseat now...it's just that darn pink hat that she's still not too sure about!!

We have started Kallie on medicine for her sad little tummy (which seems to be working - yay!)...unfortunately, it looks, smells and tastes like a cough medicine (and with that sticky red picture in mind, imagine the scene when I managed to spill it all over my very light brown area rug this week - but I digress). I like to call this the "How could you do this to me " look :)

Ah, she's so cute when she's sleeping!! :)

Tee hee hee...oops....

2007-04-29T21:47:00.000-05:00

So a funny thing happened this evening - we realized that our comments have not been turned on here!! Hmm...apparently we're not as internet-savvy as we thought we were! And I kept thinking "Gee, it's funny that no one has been posting!"....(insert picture of me blushing!). The problem has now been remedied, and we have read all of your thoughtful comments! And a huge apology to those of you who posted things that needed a response - we were not ignoring you!! So please keep commenting - we love to hear from all of you!!

One month old!

2007-04-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

Well, our little one officially turned one month old on Monday! She is changing and growing daily (when we had her weighed on Tuesday, she was up to 8lbs 4oz!). The above is a picture Grandma took of Kallie smiling in her car seat - yup, she's smiling now!! We've started to figure out her tummy troubles, so our happy little girl has now returned! We're all getting lots of coos and smiles on a continuous basis!

Here's a picture of Kallie with Grandpa doting on her (sorry about the orientation) :) We had a lovely Easter dinner at Kristina's place last Friday, and while Eric and I took the opportunity to grab a nap, Kallie decided to entertain everyone for a couple of hours! She seems like she sure enjoys being the center of attention!

We spent most of the last week at my parent's place so my mom and dad could give us some extra help and allow Eric and I to catch up on sleep. They have been a huge help to us, and it is so appreciated!! Now we are adjusting back to life here at home, and are looking forward to our weekend together before Eric's exam!

Happenings around here....

2007-03-31T15:20:00.000-05:00

Kallie with Great-Grandma a little while ago - now there's four generations of us!!

Kallie is now officially three weeks old!! Hard to imagine, as the time has flown by so quickly (I guess a lack of sleep can do that to a person!!) We have had a fun week - she is now much more alert, with her eyes constantly darting around to take everything in. It's been great for me, as she's now quite content to amuse herself for 15-20 minutes at a time, which definitely makes getting ready to leave the house much easier! I had my first outing this week with just my little girl...we headed to Auntie Kristina's house for a day of visiting and choosing paint colours (since our house is pretty much decorated, it's so fun to look at another one!!). It was good to get out, and it also built up my confidence a bit in terms of taking her on excursions! Friday morning I headed out to a breast feeding support group at the public health nurse's office - over 15 moms meet once a week on a drop-in basis to discuss everything from sleep to toys to feeding and beyond. Kallie was the youngest one there, and it was really neat to see a room full of kids at all different ages and stages and see what lies ahead of us in the coming months! It was a fun time, and it was nice to chat with some other moms and hear some of their stories! We are the first of our friends to have a child, so it's nice to connect with others who are in the same boat!

Eric and I are doing really well - we love being parents and are actually having a chance to get some sleep thanks to my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law doing some in-house babysitting while we sleep! My mom has been over a number of times this week during the day, helping out with Kallie, doing laundry, etc....which is a big part of while I'm still sane!

Well, off we go to try and do a mad house tidy while the little one is napping away!

Flying Solo

2007-03-20T15:19:00.000-05:00

Eric headed back to work yesterday, so today is day #2 of getting to enjoy Kallie all on my own! I am so blessed to have the opportunity to stay home with her and get to know her better! Eric and I have been able to get mostly caught up on sleep in the past couple of days thanks to some wonderful family members, so the post-hospital zombie state seems to be easing up a little! Kallie has been gaining weight steadily for a week now, so she seems to be right back on track - the public health nurse figures she'll be back up to her birth weight by the time she's two weeks old, which is wonderful! We ventured out for brief shopping excursions on Friday and Saturday, and Kallie was quite well behaved despite her hatred for her constricting car seat. On Sunday she actually slept all the way through a church service and people cooing over her - we're so proud!! She sure knows how to put on a good face in front of everyone else!

It's a girl!!

2007-03-15T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hi friends,

On Friday, March 9, 2007 at 8 minutes to midnight, little Kallie Kristina was born. :) She weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 oz. We are of course thrilled with her, not just because she is our first child. Even though she doesn't do much more than eat and sleep (and make "presents for daddy" - related to the former), she does a great job of entertaining us and our family. We hope you enjoy the picture - there will be many more to follow as she grows (and we'll probably throw in some mommy and daddy content too).

32 weeks and counting....

2007-01-14T23:26:00.000-06:00

Well, the picture was actually from a week ago, but we are officially 32 weeks along! Sometimes it seems as though the time just flies by, but when we look at it from the perspective of being so close to meeting our little one, time seems to be dragging!! The little guy or gal has been extremely active for the past few weeks, which has been quite entertaining to everyone who gets to see my belly jiggle and shake all on its own! :) It's also apparent that we're in the home stretch since our pre-natal classes start this week - hopefully we'll get some good information as well as a chance to meet some other couples in our area that are expecting!

New milestone

2006-12-15T19:48:00.000-06:00

Hey friends

So, Kari and I reached an important milestone in our (okay, her) pregnancy. About a week ago we used the "Expectant Mothers" parking spot at a local store, and we felt no shame. I think that's pretty significant.

Some have commented that our blog is not updated very often. Oops. Guess we're not the bloggers we thought we'd be, not that I ever thought I would document the minutiae of my existence. We have been pretty busy as of late (uh oh, here come the excuses!). Last Sunday was the last of 10 performances of the annual Christmas production put on by our church. She reprised her role in the choir, singing like an angel and also singing a duet. I also helped out with the production, behind the scenes (much different than last year when I was one of the actors) in the video distribution/recording booth. Good times had by all.

I have something to announce to the blogosphere. I now own a pair of jeans. I know, I know, it's a big shock, since either A) You wonder why anybody would not have owned any before, or B) You know me, and my previous disdain (sometimes childish disdain) for them. Near as I can remember, this is the first time I have owned jeans in approximately 15 years, except for that unfortunate appearance at a theme party back in university days. I have to say, there are a few good things about wearing jeans. First, they are durable and don't show stains like khakis do (for this reason alone I probably should have had some before). Second, they allow me to look more casual at work on "Casual Friday." And third, they make carrying a pocketknife at all times more acceptable. Hey, I grew up on a farm (which makes lack of denim ownership an even more intense mystery), so sue me.

Susan - this one's for you!!

2006-11-07T23:39:00.000-06:00

Ah, yes...after all of our procrastinating and forgetfulness, we finally managed to both take a picture of my ever-expanding belly and put it up here!! The ultrasound a couple of weeks ago confirmed that there's only one bun in the oven (whew!), and everything is going exactly according to plan! We're in officially in week 23, and can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. With the Living Christmas Tree starting dress rehearsals in only a couple of weeks and then 9 performances in 10 days, the next 5 weeks are also going to fly by...and then all of a sudden I'm in my third trimester!! :) I've really started to feel the little one moving around, which is an experience that is both strange and wonderful at the same time! My "nesting" instincts have already kicked in, and thankfully Eric is game for joining me in some of my cleaning projects - this house is going to be spic and span before this little one makes an appearance!!

Eric goes to gator country - Part II

2006-10-03T12:40:00.000-05:00

So, yes, the work was very rewarding. While we didn't have fancy "reveals" like the home makeover shows on TV, the before and after appearance and overall suitability for living of each home was dramatically improved. Pictures to follow! It was amazing to me that we seemed to have the exact people that we needed for the tasks. No crew had people that were underutilized, each had a job that fit their particular skill/trade/experience.

Saturday and Sunday were sort of touristy days. On Saturday we headed down to Grand Island Beach, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. Houses in this area were mostly built on stilts, some before the floodwaters and some after. Again, we saw numerous homes that were abandoned, waiting for repair, and sometimes waiting for demolition. Grand times were had by all at the beach, especially for Adam who jumped into the water before removing his wallet from his shorts. Dolphins were seen, and swam with where possible. I sorta missed out on that though, as I was busy taking pictures for my darling wife at home. I talked to a local guy who asked who we were and where we had come from. When I told him our story, he said "don't believe what you see on CNN, it's all crap!" Ah, locals. After the beach we headed into the vans and went to New Orleans to find our hotel.

New Orleans (or NOLA as some call her) was a pretty mixed bag as well. We drove through some neighborhoods that had boarded up and abandoned homes, some with spray paint on them with numbers and letters that seemed to indicated casualties or damage. It was pretty sad to see. A few buildings on the same street as our hotel were still awaiting repairs. One building had "Katrina was here" spraypainted on the wall.

On the Sunday morning, we attended a service at First Pilgrim's Baptist Church, which has a marquee out front that read "Where the Holy Ghost Has His Way." Clearly we were in for a cross-cultural church experience. The service and the people that took part were just as we could have imagined. I had no idea that a preacher could yell (read: preach) for so long without losing the use of his voice. The people were very friendly and hospitable, and they sure loved dancing to the music and responding out loud to the preacher's words. Good times.

Monday began the long trek home. We did about 1100 miles that day, then finished the journey on Tuesday. It was good to be back.

Eric goes to gator country - Part I

2006-09-13T20:54:00.000-05:00

Howdy y'alls. I guess it's been two weeks since I got back, but I can report having a great time on my trip to Lousiana with several other young adults from our church. The purpose of the trip was to volunteer with Mennonite Disaster Services, who were doing some rebuilding/reburbishing work for some people who were not able to fix up their own houses after the Katrina-Rita Hurricanes last year. After many, many hours of driving over two days (and half of that time for me spent behind the wheel of "The Cajun Cruiser" a.k.a. "The Golden Party Bullet" - a rented Grand Caravan) we arrived in Point-aux-Chiene, Lousiana. We arrived on Saturday night, and stayed at a less than four-star establishment (I never thought I could "rough it" indoors). On Sunday morning, we attended a church service, after which our 15-member team was invited to join a very hospitable member of the congregation for some authentic Cajun cooking. So, we rolled the vans over to Cajun Delight Restaurant, where many of us, including myself, dined on alligator, gumbo, and quite possibly the greasiest serving of onion rings ever created. It was gooooooood!

Following lunch, we all hopped in an aluminum boat with an individual known as "The Cajun Man", who led a tour of the bayous around the area, including several alligators. He fed the alligators some chicken (ironic that the alligators were eating what they themselves taste like) so that our tourists could take some pictures, it was good times. A two and half hour tour cost each of the group a paltry $15. You just can't buy entertainment like that in our neck of the woods.

Oh wait, didn't I say that we came here to work? On Monday through Friday, the team was hard at work on three project houses. The bulk of the work for the team was drywalling, painting, and flooring, and it was awesome that the abilities of the people that came seemed to match exactly what was needed. I spent most of my time working in the home of a fellow named Kim, a deaf man who was partially disabled because of a car accident several years earlier. My charming wife Kari has been learning sign language, and I have picked up some signs from her. Kim was thrilled that I was able to sign with him a little bit, the biggest smile came on his face when I told them that we liked to help him. God is good.

Fortunately, Kim's house was air-conditioned. The other teams were not so lucky. They had the special joy of 110 degree heat with humidity, the surest recipe for sweat-soaked shirts if ever there was one. On Friday I joined one of these crews, and definitely had some overheating issues (nothing too serious). Everyone handled it as well as they could. "The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night." (from Psalm 121)

2006-08-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

On the road (again)

This weekend I will be heading down to Louisiana with a group of young adults that are going to help with some rebuilding efforts in an area devastated by the 2005 hurricane season. The trip is approximately 28 hours each way by van. Yet this is not the longest journey I've been on, that would definitely be the long-way that I took to get to Saipan. I feel tired just thinking about it! I hope to make a few posts while I'm down there and when I return (maybe we'll relive some memories of road trips past).

Friends are friends forever??

2006-08-02T12:30:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I took the opportunity to make an 8 hour road-trip to Farm Games 2006, an annual event hosted on a friend's farm (hence the title). Frisbee games and tarp games (add water and dishsoap, then play "Spoons" with bars of soap - good times!)) were had by all, but probably the best part of the weekend was the opportunity to get together with a bunch of people that I haven't seen for about a year. You know how the story goes, people move apart for various reasons (work, relationships, etc.) and all of a sudden the good old gang is just that - the old gang. "Friends are friends forever" was the motto found on a decorative wall hanging in this quiet farm house. Sometimes that's true, but sometimes not. Sometimes people drift, and I've drifted from a few people in my life. Sometimes I know the reason, and sometimes I just wonder "how come I don't keep up with ____ anymore?" I am fortunate though, because the friends that I met up with on this trip are truly good friends, ones that I hope to keep for a lifetime.

Sorry for the sentimental gush.

30 meals, that's what

2006-07-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

The credit card companies all want to know, "what's in your wallet?" Well, if the question today is "what's in your freezer?", the answer for us is a whole lotta cookin'. Kari suggested that we give mass cooking a shot. After researching numerous web sites and blogs dedicated to the culinary craft of fantastic freezing tricks, we were off to the grocery store for a heap of food. In the process of making our dinner meals for July we went through ten pounds of ground beef, over two kilograms of shredded cheddar cheese, five kilograms of chicken breasts and the other ingredients for pizza, lasagna, chicken nuggets, shepherd's pie (although we debated over whether or not a pie had to have a crust), chicken parmesan, lemonade chicken, and a few other things. Every night we take something out of the freezer and put in the fridge to thaw for the following night. It's a curious mix of saving and instant gratification; one's days labour turns into the ability to pick dinner from a menu.

Gotta go (I noticed we have popsicles)

The Cadillac of blog entries

2006-06-23T18:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's Friday so I'm in a bit of a random mood. The other day I was walking home from work (a nice 25 minute jaunt, so my minds tends to wander with my feet) I was thinking about the philosophy of business, how products are priced based on their quality, etc. I'm sure you've often heard that "such and such" is the Cadillac of "this and that". I wondered how farspread these types of claims are. Off to Google.....

"Rancho Santana is the cadillac of Nicaraguan beachfront communities."
"The Xecuter3 CE is the CADILLAC of Xbox Modchips."
"Blue Hawaiian is the Cadillac of helicopter tour companies."
"This is the "Cadillac" of critical point dryer units that are available today."
"Ellington is the Cadillac of high-school jazz competitions."
"The Cassini is the Cadillac of space missions."
"For my money, if no-limit is the Cadillac of poker, pot-limit must be the Rolls Royce."
"Pecan, when you can get it, is the Cadillac of barbecuing woods, and walnut also makes a fine fuel."
"For anyone who has ever tested these management utilities, they know that Marimba is the Cadillac of all IT Asset management applications."
"Medi-Cal is the Cadillac of health-care welfare."
"This simple equation is the Cadillac of spherical distance calculations."
"...you quickly come to the realization that the BOB Ironman Sport Utility Stroller is the Cadillac of the stroller industry."
"Smith and Miller is the Cadillac of painted steel toys." (this from the Antiques Roadshow web site).

weird

And some lovely flowers....

2006-06-15T23:54:00.000-05:00

There are also all sorts of lovely flowers blooming away in our yard...before we knew about all the perennials that have now come up, Eric and I planted two rose bushes - one white, one yellow. We figured that it would be at least next year before we would see a bloom, but....success!!

And Susan, this one's for you!! This little purple guy has another little friend almost ready to bloom as well - they are so wonderfully elegant! Now if only the white ones decide to bloom as well!!

Lastly, a picture of some of the daisies before the "incident"...I figured that I should at least take a couple of pictures to remind us of what was!! :) It's such a lovely thing to look out the window and see all sorts of flowers and plants and shrubs in bloom...it definately makes enduring these long winters worthwhile!!

Garden - Before and After

2006-06-15T23:44:00.000-05:00

So here is the half-way picture of the garden...after the daisy massacre, but still with a long way to go!!

And here is the after picture - after our wonderful neighbour Al roto-tilled the space and we planted many little veggies that we are now trying to nurse through the shock of being planted and now living in the scorching sun of our backyard!!!

The Day the Daisies Died (or rather, were murdered)

2006-06-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

Tonight Eric and I shook off our procrastinating ways and attempted to do what no one had done for many years....uncover what was and is to be the garden plot in our backyard. While the field of daisies were lovely to look at (if you squinted and ignored the waist-high grass and thistles), growing our own vegetables seems much more appealing. So part one of our adventure took place this evening, with part two hopefully coming tomorrow if we can borrow a roto-tiller from a kind neighbour. Poor daisies...never stood a chance. Now all we have are eight garbage bags full of "bodies" and many of their little heads lying in our lawn and "garden". At least we know we have fertile soil.....:)

New-look bathroom

2006-05-27T21:22:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what a spash of paint and some hard work can do. Seeing this new picture I'm reminded of that game where you need to count the differences between two images. New paint, light fixture, countertop, sink, faucet, toilet, flooring, and hardware. This room is probably the most dramatic change in the house, freshening up a space that was tremendously outdated. Faux gold hardware is replaced by cool brushed nickel as this drab dusty rose bathroom gives way to tropical oasis. (I can't get Debbie Travis' voice out of my head as I write this, and strangely that's ok)

Poppletons: Unplugged

2006-05-18T19:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday night, Kari suggested that we unplug the TV for awhile. I confess that we have been somewhat addicted to "reality" TV. Congratulations to B.J. and Tyler for winning The Amazing Race! Their victory helped to ease the pain of Terry getting robbed on Survivor.

Anyhoo, one of the things we're working on is finishing up some little jobs left over from the renovation mayhem we caused on our new house after we moved in. In recent weeks I've been seeing little things around the house that needed to be finished, and came up with a list. Twenty-some items later, here we are. Yuck! More pictures to follow, but for starters here's a before picture of our upstairs bathroom. Note the groovy wooden walls, retro dusty rose toilet and bathtub, and vintage linoleum. We're quite proud of the result, which we'll show you.....after the break! (insert American Idol music here).

We have a blog (and a house)

2006-05-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hello friends, and welcome to the online world of Eric and Kari, where we will share intimate details of every nuance of our lives as well as credit card numbers. Okay, maybe that's a lie, but we do plan to share our happenings with you, our friends, family, and whoever happens to stumble upon our site in the vastness of the blogosphere.

This is a picture of our house, after the winter melt but before the grass and tulips and other pretty things began to grow. We moved in in February (thanks to everyone who helped!), and have been enjoying our space. We've painted, changed light fixtures, and Kari showed off her pipes as we installed new bathroom fixtures (countertop, sink, faucet, toilet). Forget this "weekend warrior" stuff, we did 24-7 extreme renovating! Both of us enjoy the new digs.

2006-04-28T12:24:00.000-05:00

Hello world