A week at Grandma and Grandpa's

Itty-bitty baby Brenna!
A good one!

Not quite as good.

Definitely not good.

Grandpa reading "Apple Dumplin's Day" yet again!

Naked yet again

Naked baby butt strikes again. And yes, it is 11:30 at night again. I don't understand it. I go to bed at 9:30 every night for the past 3 years, and the two night I happened to be up until 11:30, my daughter is freezing her little tushie off in her crib. This time we weren't lucky enough to find a dry crib either. So it all got changed... the diaper, jammies, sheet, and matress pad. I think we're going to have to have a little Mommy/Daughter talk about this tomorrow. And this is how I predict it will go:
Me: Danica, why are you taking off your clothes at night-night?
D: Because!
Me: Because why?
D: Because Snoopy a Chi Bon a Snoopy a Veggie Tales!
Me: Well, stop taking off your clothes at night, okay?
D: OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She never gives me a straight answer.

odd

I was just changing a very stinky p.u. diaper (that's beside the point). Dani was laying there and said, "Guess what?" So of course I said what! "I got baby sisser Brenna and Snoopy! A baby sisser, a Snoopy!" Um, okay.

Settled... kind of

Well, we are finally getting settled. Everything is unpacked and put in it's rightful place... exept for the basement full of opened and unopened boxes. We still have not found the camera cord so I can get pictures on the computer. If we don't find it, we'll buy one this weekend. I know some of you blog junkies are getting the shakes and sweats... hang in there, your fix is coming soon. Just remember, the first one is free, but then you gotta pay.
This palace of a house is messing with me. The doorknob on the bathroom door is broken now, so no one can shut the door. One never knows when a little monster will come barging in... either on two legs or on four. And this morning the toilet handle broke off... at a very inappropriate moment. What next, eh? I guess this is God's sense of humor at work. Well, I don't think it's very funny!!

Naked night-night

Duane and I watched a movie last so we didn't get to bed until 11:30... VERY late for me. I thought about whether or not to check on Danica, and decided to go ahead and check. I walked in and let my eyes adjust a bit, then I saw a book in her crib. So I grabbed the book to take it out, lifted it up, and saw that it was a diaper! Duane walked in too so he saw the look of hillarity and horror on my face. He checked the crib for wet spots while I doubled over laughing at the site of Danica's bare butt sticking out. My poor girl was so cold, so I got a new diaper on her, got new jammies on her, and she never woke up. What a champ. She must have been bare bummed for about 3 hours... just imagine if I decided not to go check on her. That decision will be a much easier one from now on.

Sicky sick

My poor sick girl! Dani woke up yesterday with a fever (but she doesn't need more cowbell... some of you will get that). She's been acting like she's fine, but had quite a fever and threw up all over Grandma's couch last night. Poor Grandma... I think we've overstayed our welcome!! :)
Her fever is gone this morning and she just finally ate half a banana, so we'll see!!!! She gets to stay here with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom and Dad go to a Christmas party tonight. Say some prayers that all her food stays down while we're gone!!

Rental house

SHEESH! What a dump! I was not a happy spoiled girl when I saw the house we're renting. Crap everywhere, dirty broken blinds, smelly dirty fridge, ish ish ish. It's much better now however, so we're unpacking and making it our own. Danica is having a ball running around exploring the new place. She's been so good through this whole moving process, and she's been loving having Grandma and Grandpa around!
We were driving back to Garrison today and Dani was yelling out of boredom. I was trying to focus on the snow-drifted road so I asked her to please stop while I was driving. She said, "OKAY!!!! So sorry!" I have no idea where she got that. What a goof.
Pictures are to come as soon as we find the box the cord is packed in.

The move

We're heeeerrrrre!!!!
The move went very smoothly... so far. Danica was a real trooper when the movers came and took all our things away. We were expecting some tears and confusion, but she was on her best behavior. She was wonderful on the drive as well. The only tantrums came from Mommy and Daddy when the traffic got too bad. We're very thankful that we won't have to make that trip anymore!!!
We had a great Thanksgiving, first in Bottineau and then in Garrison. Lots of yummy food was eaten, and again Dani was on her best behavior, even though she's got a molar coming in... ouch!
In copying Jill's blog, I'm going to list some things we're Thankful for this year.
My list:
1. My healthy family
2. Duane bringing us home again
3. A very helpful extended family who've done so much for us this year!
4. DVD's to make long trips happy for toddlers
5. Our house getting sold soon... I have faith!!

Dani's list (my interpretation):
1. Mommy, Daddy and Emma
2. Blankie
3. Veggie Tales
4. Milk
5. Goldfish crackers

Ah, to be young and carefree!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Goodbye Green Bay

This will probably be the last blog from Green Bay. We are packing up today, which also means the computer gets packed up. So here is our goodbye to Green Bay.
We'll miss you for your memories Green Bay. We were pregnant here... sheesh! We had Danica here... double sheesh!! We watched her grow up in this wonderful house. She learned to sit, to crawl, to walk, and quickly to run. We'll miss the large space to chase her around the house and giggle as we go. She said her first words here, "Mama, Dada!" She had her tough first months here and taught us that we can get through anything together if we just lean on each other. She made us laugh here more than we've ever laughed in our lives! We'll miss you Green Bay - mostly for our memories of these first wonderful years of Danica's life.
We'll also miss the friends we've made here. We had some very good times getting to know a whole new group of people. We'll miss our babysitter!! There's nothing as comforting as knowing your prize possession is in good hands. We'll miss the milder winters... ND here we come!
We'll miss so much about you Green Bay, and look forward to coming back to visit some day. In the meantime, here are a couple things we (I) will NOT miss. I will not miss seeing green and gold everywhere I go. I will not miss having every conversation be about football and the Packers. And I will not miss the whiny nasally accent... although mine probably isn't that much better.
GOODBYE GREEN BAY!! HELLO MINOT!! (Hmmm, are we sure about this?)

Warning

This is your friendly reminder to drive carefully and look both ways at intersections, even if you have a green light. We were at a stop light yesterday getting ready to turn left, when suddenly right in front of us was a very serious accident. The person coming up to the right of us was running the red light and going very fast. The one coming through with the green light ran right into her and totalled her car. We pulled over to help and she was hurt and very shaken up. So even at lower in-town speeds, there can be serious damage... thankfully there were no kids in her car. I stayed with her until the fire department and police came, and hopefully she'll be fine. But it's a good lesson to us all to be defensive drivers! Be safe everyone... we love you!

Mommy's broken heart

I picked Duane up from work last night since it was his last day (no more truck). We were almost home - just two houses away from home - when a dear ran out in front of the car. I SLIGHTLY overreacted... I gasped and slammed on the brakes. And of course Duane yelled, "What are you doing!" Then we heard a shaky little broken up voice in the back say, "What's going on?" We looked back and Dani's eyes were full of tears and she was just shaking. The poor little thing was terrified. When we got home and I got her out of the car she was still trembling and asking what happened. So we told her it was a dear and everything was okay. For another half hour all she wanted to talk about was "da dear" and "scawy" and "it's okay." MY POOR GIRL!

A favorite moment

One of the best times of day is story time. Before every nap and bedtime we read stories in Dani's room together. She sits on my (or Daddy's) lap on the floor, cuddles her blankie, hugs my arm, and snuggles in while I read. Warm fuzzies all over!!!!

The newest Klabunde!

Here is our new neice, Brenna Lynn (or Baby Sister Brenna, as Dani is calling her)!! She was born on Sunday... what a great day to be born! We are so excited to meet her - she's getting rave reviews from all the critics!! ;) What a beautiful baby, and Mama's looking good too!!
"Where's my thumb!!??"

The joys of being a stay-at-home mom

We just got done eating our yummy lunch - tomato soup and grilled cheese. During lunch Dani got down to the bottom of her bowl, so she lifted it up and drank right from it (like any good toddler does). When done, she put the bowl down and with a face COVERED in tomato soup says, "Oh, dat's weawy good soup, Mama!" (Sigh) Then she points to her elbows and says, "Mama, I got two elbows." Okey-dokey!! You can't get that kind of satisfaction at just any old job!

We had our house inspector come this morning. The poor man had to deal with both Emma and Dani thinking he was here just for them. The whole time he was here Danica followed him around asking, "What doing? What doing? I watching Chi Bon (for definition, see previous blog). Wanna watch Chi Bon?" This went on for a good two hours. Thanks goodness he was a very nice and patient man. He answered all her questions very politely and let Emma climb all over him. Sheesh!!!

Itsy spider

Paying bocks

Fun pics

Love reunions!

Dani's watching Chi Bon (Charlie Brown, for those of you who don't speak Two), so I'll take this opportunity to change her blog into my blog and share some pictures with you from my wonderful weekend.

Kirten, me, Mel, and Karli
We did this a LOT over the weekend.

HAD to share this picture... how great is her kitchen??

Melonie and Karli

Amber and Kirsten

Kirsten, Karli, Mel, Britt (Kirsten's sister), and me.

Side note on Britt. She was 10 years old when we were all Freshman at UND. She'd come visit in the dorms and we'd leave her with a girl named Robin (not the go-out kinda gal) while we went out to party. It's amazing she'll still speak to all of us.

Dancing (after a LOT of wine) to our old party songs. Her neighbors across the street had a party and it was letting out just as we were dancing. Can't imagine what they think was going on!

Again... LOTS of wine.

There's no place like home

It's great to be home!!
Danica and Daddy had a great time together while I was gone this weekend. Dani got to rent a movie for the first time - something Veggie Tales about pirates. Although I don't think he wanted to admit to it, I think Duane realized what it's like to be the one taking care of Dani all day and night for a couple days. Definitely not as easy as it would seem. But he did a great job!!

While they were watching Veggie Tales, I was having a fabulous time with my girlfriends! What a great idea for an annual reunion - we're all kicking ourselves that we didn't think of doing it earlier. There was a lot of wine, laughter, silliness, stories and nostalgic love. We were quite distracting for Kirsten, which she needed. I miss my dear friends already, but we're already planning our next trip! ;)

Obama

Danica's thrilled that Obama won. Although, I think she only likes him because Oprah endorsed him. She's pretty obsessed with Oprah lately... asks to watch her all day. If she's not asking for Oprah, she's asking to watch football.

In case some of you readers didn't get an e-mail from me, I'll ask on the blog too:
If you know of anyone in the Minot area who moves south for the winter and would let us rent their place, please let me know.

YAY FOR IMPORTANT HISTORY BEING MADE!!!!!