Happy Birthday to My Husband!

You are a wonderful husband and father and because of this I hope you have a wonderful day!


We Love You!!!

An Irish Blessing At Christmas

The warmth of home and hearth to you,
The cheer and good will of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you,
The joy of a thousand angels to you,
The light of God's love to you.

Wishing you and your family a very blessed Christmas!

The Bartsch's

The Cleaning Kid

If you ever wonder why I have a complex about how dirty my house is, it's my 2 year olds fault. I think I might open up a cleaning service for my son. Just don't tell Child Protection Services....and Auntie Staci, just pretend you don't know... :-) (She's a lawer and works for the Attorney General Children & Family department in Oregon).

Zack has been obsessed with our "black noise" = vacuum cleaner and our "green noise" = Spot Bot. You may have seen the blog about making Uncle Steve vacuum but he was also trying to get Grandma D and Grandpa Al and of course Darin and I to vacumm for days. It's been so bad that when I've gone upstairs to take a shower, the closet door is open or the Spot Bot has been waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. I have now placed a child lock on the closet door. He also enjoys dusting, using the dust buster and washing windows. His rates would be low. Any takers? Hypothetically speaking that is!

Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom, I think your Christmas present is going to be a HUGE hit!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

38 years ago today my parents said "I do!" Since that day they have been a wonderful example to us, showing us what a loving and comitted relationship is.

We love you!

Sleepy Pooh

Another example of how my son is a genius!

So we have this inflatable Santa Pooh on our deck that Auntie Meg gave us the first year Zack was born, or maybe it was the year I was pregnant, anyway, it sits on our deck and is controlled by a light timer. So when it gets dark the timer kicks on for 6 hours. Well, my son figured out on his own that if he turned on our deck light, (which is right above the outlet the timer is plugged into) Pooh would go to "sleep" and then when he turns off the light he runs to the couch and says, "Let's watch Sleepy Pooh wake up"! He gets so excited to see Pooh wake up. So now Pooh is on more than 6 hours a night because he goes to sleep and wakes up a few times a night.

Update on Emily

A message from Jenni on Emily's progress.

Hi Katie,

Thank-you for posting this. Emily is doing really well, and I am sure all the positive thoughts and prayers are helping. She had a successful surgery on Friday where they removed her pericardial tissue from in front of her heart. Hers had swollen to over 100 times what a normal width should be.

After the surgery her heart rate decreased to a safe level and the doctors are cautiously optimistic that she will now be on the road to 100% recovery. Her chest tube was removed today, so she is now able to breathe a little easier. She is in good spirits and really appreciates all the love and support.

I am attaching a picture of Emily and I in Vegas in October, this was taken about 3 weeks before this all started.

Jenni

Happy Birthday Adee!

Our dear little niece turns 1 today! I can't believe how time had flown!


We love you!

Thankful for Many Things

I never got out a Thanksgiving wish to all of you. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and continue to have a wonderful holiday season. This year we are very thankful for many things. Our newest addition to the family, Kiley, Darin's new job and all of our friends and family who come to this site on a regular or not so regular basis to check in with us. We really appreciate it!

We are also thankful for the many events that have been keeping us so busy these past few weeks... in other words time for a little catch up again.

The week of Thanksgiving started off our festivities with a lunch at Auntie Do's house. Great-Grandma Delores was in town and wanted to meet Kiley and see how big Zack has grown again. The newly weds of the family, Heather and Jeff also joined us for lunch. It was a great meal and Zack had a great time. Kiley loved Great-Grandma Delores she was so comfortable with her that every time Great-Grandma held her she fell asleep. :-)

Thankful for Thanksgiving itself

On Thanksgiving day we went to my Mom and Dad's house along with my sisters and their families. It is getting quite crazy in the house with two 2 year olds and a soon to be one year old going this way and that way all night long. Adee is really trying to catch up with those older cousins of hers. She is crawling really well now and has taken a few steps on her own too! She'll be running around with Zack and Riley before we know it.

Riley absolutely loves Kiley. The only way we could get Riley to join the pictures was by saying we'd put Kiley next to her. She was on the couch real quick then. :-)

Thankful for Cooley Pizza

The tradition of Cooley pizza was at Molly and Josh's the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This can only mean one thing, Dan, Sharis and Ryan were home from Chicago. Busy, Busy, Busy! But the kids certainly had FUN! So did Timmer. My Aunt bought the kids these fun race cars and Timmer was having just as much fun playing with them as the kids were.

First time Kerry and Tim met Kiley. Dan too for that matter. Sharis and Ryan met Kiley in September.


Ryan and Adee are 5 months apart.



Party in Riley's Crib!

Tim's not a fan of toddler music

Thankful for Out of Town Visitors!

Darin's Aunt Barb and Uncle Steve were in town from North Dakota and stopped by for a visit and some grandkid practice. Darin's cousin Blaine and wife Denise are expecting in April. Zack has met Barb and Steve before and had no problem warming up to them quickly so I could go and do a little Christmas shopping before our next out of towners came to town. Zack put Great-Uncle Steve to work vacuuming our family room, living room and Zack's bedroom. We had just done this the night before but apparently Mommy and Daddy missed some spots. Thanks Steve! And thanks to both for babysitting! It was a great help and nice to get out kid free!!!

Request For Prayers!

My friend Jenni Morey and her family are in need of your prayers. Jenni's sister Emily, is currently in surgery for the second time in the past two months to remove fluid from around her heart. Emily is 6 years younger than Jenni and I, a dance teacher and in great health. She never had any heart issues until now. The scary thing is the doctors in Florida, (where Emily is currently living) don't know what caused this the first time or what is causing it to reoccur.

Please keep Emily in your thoughts as she heals and pray that the doctors can figure out what is happening so they can fix it!

Happy Birthday Sean!

Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law!

We hope you have a fun filled day!

3 Months Old Today!

Our sweet little angel is 3 months old today.

She is a very good baby. She is sleeping very well at night. She is cooing a lot and giggling a little. She's very stingy with her giggles. You get one a day and that is about it. You can get close a couple of times but she holds it in.

So how is she different from Zack at this age?

Physical features

Zack has short chubby fingers, Kiley has long skinny ones.

Zack has wide feet, Kiley, narrow.

Still can't tell what color Kiley's eyes are. They haven't changed enough to determine if she will be brown eyed like Zack or maybe hazel.

Both have lots of hair. Although I think Zack had more. They both have a double cowlick in the back. Hopefully if we keep Kiley's hair longer we won't have the issues we have with Zack's hair. At age 2 we are already using hairspray in his hair!

Sleeping

She is like Zack. Zack was a good sleeper when he was little. Hope she doesn't take after big brother now!

Temperament

Zack would have a crabby spell at night where he would be inconsolable for a while. So far this isn't happening with Kiley, knock on wood!

Those are all of the things I can think of right now. Hopefully I'll catch you up on what we as a family have been up to soon!

Happy Birthday Staci!

My sister-in-law is celebrating her birthday today!
Hope you have a wonderful day! Wish we could be in Oregon to celebrate with you!