Ashley's Volleyball Game

The kids and I went over the the Byron vs Oregon game at Oregon tonight after I got off work. Nate's cousin Ashley, who watches the kids a lot, plays for Oregon. Since they were playing Byron, I took the kids to watch. Of course it went to 3 games and Oregon won! Bad for my girls at Byron. Kade was ready to go after the 2nd game, but was excited to see Ashley after the match was over. I took a little flack for the kids being in Oregon Hawk sweatshirts, but I had my Byron Volleyball shirt on!

Mr. Fix-It

I heard Kade "working" on the jumper yesterday. When I looked up, here is what he was doing. When I asked him what he was doing he said "fixing it mommy." How cute, I wonder where he learned to fix things. It seems I have another helper on my hands. I love the tongue out of the mouth, definitely a Stenzel trait. And the look on Noelle's face watching him is cute too!

Visit to the Firestation

We went down to the Fireman's breakfast on Sunday morning and Haleigh was there. Kade and Haleigh had a blast playing on all the trucks. They also got fire helmets from Chief Stenzel (Grandpa to Kade!) and as you can see, Kade wanted to wear his backwards. He is used to his hats having a bill in the front like a baseball hat. What a nut!

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4 Generations of Gehants

Sunday we got together for my Grandma's 85th birthday. So here are four generations of Gehant women!

Noelle's "new" toy

We pulled Kade's jumper out for Noelle to try last week and man does she love it. She was tired of lying on the floor and reaching for her toys on the overhead gym. Also, the floor was no longer a safe place to play. Kade had started diving on her, so it was a perfect time to introduce the jumper. She hasn't figured out how to do big jumps just yet, but Kade tries to help her. So I'm sure it won't be long before she is going crazy in it!

Noelle's 1st Haircut

Noelle had to have her 1st haircut on Sept 29. This is much later than her older brother, who had his first at 8 weeks. We just trimmed up the back so it is all one length instead of a baby mullet. She didn't fuss or care that Kelli was cutting her hair. Kelli also did Kade's first haircut.

Kari's Here!!

Kari was here for a few days at the end of Sep, so I took a Friday night off and was able to see her. She was only able to bring the newest member of the Michelsen family, Calem-sorry if I misspelled his name. He is 2 weeks younger than Noelle. Hopefully next time we get together, all the kidos can be there, since Kade and Cohen are only 10 days apart!

It's A Girl!!

Well our wait is finally over! It's a GIRL!! Chris and Kristin had their baby on Monday afternoon. Her name is Olivia Jean (not sure on spelling of middle name). She is 6 lbs. 110z. and 19 1/2 in long. She is a cutie, and can't wait to see her in person. Nate and I won't get a chance to get to MN until the end of October due to Friday night football games, but we are going up the first chance we get! Love you guys and can't wait to see you!!!!

kade's 1st football game

Kade has been going to football games since he was 2 weeks old. However, things are very different this year, he knows he is going to football! He gets all excited now when we tell him he is going. Here are a few pics from the first game he went to this season.

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Yummy Cereal

Noelle got her first taste of rice cereal this week. She wasn't so sure about it to begin with, but she eventually ate her 1 Tablespoon! She only gets cereal 1 time a day, but she is getting better and better at keeping it in her mouth!

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Kade's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Kade's 2nd birthday on Aug 28. I can't believe he is already 2! We had our little family celebration on his actual birthday and then that weekend we had the grandparents and the aunts and uncle over to celebrate. Kade had a lot of fun and received way too many gifts. He is really into the movie Cars, so he had a Cars birthday!

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Our Noisy Neighbor!

Our noisy neighbor has been very brave lately. This peacock has made several appearances in our driveway, front porch and its favorite-downstairs just outside our sliding glass door. It is startling to open the door to let the dogs out in the morning and see this standing on your front porch. It is a very large bird, and very noisy.

Noelle's new hat!

Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristin got Noelle this cute little hat as part of her baptism gift. I love it and so does she!

Ready to work!

Nate's newest carpenter

Kade's ER visit

Kade gave us all quite a scare a couple of weeks ago. He found my dad's pill box and took one of his heart pills. This just happened to be on a night when the most severe weather of the summer rolled through our area. It knocked out power at our house for almost 24hrs. When we got to the ER, the air conditioning wasn't working so it was VERY HOT! Kade was just fine, but they held him for observation until 2am. Here he is in his cute little scrub gown he had to put on.

One of the last fun activities we did the week the guys were in Canada was go to the County Fair. I know, how much more hill-billie can you get. Kade had a blast. He saw all kinds of animals and tractors. He didn't want to leave. Then we went into Amboy and ate supper at Snack N Go and ended our outing at the Dairy Delite were Kade got his first ice cream he got to eat by himself. He was extremely worn out that night, even with the sugary ice cream!

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Lovin' Mac N Cheese

Kade loves Mac N Cheese. On this particular day, he was being very silly at lunch. I had stepped out of the room and when I came back, he had it on his forehead. Not sure how that happened, but I thought he looked cute!

Kade's first doughnut

While daddy was in Canada fishing, we had our own "vacation" here in IL and tried some new foods! Most people couldn't believe he had never had a doughnut and he was almost 2. It was like I was depriving him of the greatest thing EVER! He wasn't really sure about it. He was more interested in the banana actually. However, later that week when he got the 2nd doughnut, he ate that right up!

Kade and Grandma at the park

In late July Nate, Marshall, my Dad, Chris, Denny Weidman and his son Aaron went fishing in Canada. While they were gone, my mom came and stayed with the kids and me. Several nights, we went into town and played at the park. I'm not sure who had more fun, Kade or Grandma?

Noelle's Baptism

We had Noelle Baptized on July 5th, the day after being in my friend Erica's wedding. My brother Chris and Nate's sister Danielle are her godparents.

Erica's Wedding

My friend Erica got married on the 4th of July. We had a blast, here are some of the pics.

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Playground Visit

Kade, Mommy and Noelle went to the playground at the elementary school on Monday afternoon while my car was getting an oil change. He hadn't been anywhere like that before and he loved it! He went from 0-60 in about 3 seconds...look out! He ran around and went up and down the slide for about 30 minutes. I discovered that is another one of those things that stinks about living in the country. No parks, so we know what we are going to have to save up for next summer...a wooden play set. Not only did Kade love it, Nate and I loved how early he wanted to go to bed that night!!!

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The Weird Places Kids Sleep!

This week has been a weird week for the Girton kids. They have been falling asleep in the craziest places. Noelle fell asleep twice while "playing" on here activity mat. Then tonight, Kade fell asleep in his highchair at lunch. We are fazing out the morning nap, so by lunch he is pretty tired!

My First Ponytail!

Noelle's hair was getting long enough to get in her eyes on Thurs. She is 9 weeks old now, Kade had his first haircut at 8 weeks because his hair was in his eyes. With a girl, we don't need a haircut, we needed a ponytail! So here it is! She looks like Pebbles Flintstone!

Gone Fishin'

We took the kids fishing a few weekends ago. Kade loves the lake. He wants to put he pole in the water and actually fish! At the end of the afternoon, bith kids were tired. So Kade, Noelle and I went bak to the car for juice and to wtch a movie. Noelle was really bored as you can see from the pictures! Sorry dad, I'm not sure if she is going to be a fisherman.
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Noelle Smiles!

Noelle started smiling back at us on Sunday! Here she is today, I finally caught one on camera. She would smile, then stop before the picture was taken. This is not the best angle or the best picture of her, but there is the smile. I will try and catch a better one over the next few days.

Mowing at Grandpa and Grandma's

Kade went to a birthday party and fell in love with one of the gifts...a lawn mower. I guess it is a Stenzel thing! So we got him a lawn mower of his own last weekend. We took it to my mom and dad's house and he "mowed" the driveway and the lawn for almost an hour! As you can see, he was having a blast.
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Fishing with Daddy

Kade recently has developed a loved for fishing. So Grandpa Stenzel got him a pole to learn on. He loves fishing with Daddy in the house!

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Travelin' Man

The weekend after Noelle got out of the hospital with RSV, we ventured up to Chris and Kristin's house to help build the rest of the deck! Kade is just starting to enjoy watching movies. So our DVD player made the trip enjoyable for all of us. He watched movies all the way to MN. We bought him little speakers, as you can see, so he could hear the movie without the headphones. He rode just like this most of the way. He is wearing Daddy's hat, holding his "silk", sucking his thumb, and watching the "Woof, woofs" (which is 101 Dalmations).

Kade's new haircut

The last time Kade got his haircut, we decided to have it cut like daddy's. So Kade got his first big boy fade! He used to love getting his haircut, but this new style takes a little longer than the old one. So he kept telling us he was "all done" with this haircut. He is getting helpful with Kelli, as you can see, he gets his seat out, gets up in the chair and gets the cape on!
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Cruisin' with Haleigh

Kade and Haleigh took the mule for a cruise a few weekends ago. Haleigh was terrified of the mule until my dad let her "drive" then she didn't want to get out. Typical woman, wants to be in control!! Way to go Haleigh.

A wagon ride!

We had a really rough week after Noelle was born, my grandpa passed away. Thankfully he was in the same hospital that I delivered Noelle so he was able to see pictures of her the day after she was born. So we went down to my parent's house where all my out of town relatives were staying, and Kade loved all the attention! Kade and grandpa had to get out of the crowded house for awhile, so my dad took Kade for a ride in his wagon! Not only does he love it outside and loves the wagon, he LOVES spending time with his grandparents!

Playtime with Noelle

Here are some pics of Noelle "playin" and hangin out. I can't believe how much she has changed in just one month. She has really started to fill out and isn't such a tiny peanut anymore!

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Bath time for Noelle

When Kade was a baby, we had a small tub that he took a bath in, but he hated it. So we moved him to the big tub. With Noelle, we bypassed the little tub and went right for the big tub. She pretty much hates taking a bath, unlike her brother. She does seem to have a little more curl in her hair than Kade had. Hers seems to stay wavy after it dries! I would love it if she gets my curly hair.
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Noelle's scare

Noelle scared us in early May. She had RSV and was in severe respiratory distress, an elevated heart rate and very dehydrated. We were in the hospital for 3 days, but she has bounced back like a champ. Here she is at the hospital in her bed all connected to monitors, IVs and oxygen.

Hospital Pics

Here are some pics from the hospital. We had lots of visitors while we were in the hospital.
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Noelle Irion Girton

Noelle Irion Girton made a surprise appearance on April 10, 2008. Happy Birthday MOM!!! She wasn't scheduled for arrival until the 15th.

Here I am after checking in on Thursday night about 2 hours before she was born.

Noelle was born at 11:46pm on 4-10-08. She just barely made it on my birthday! She weighed 7lbs. 14oz and is 19 inches long. She is so much smaller that Kade was!

Here are some of her first pictures. More to come later. She and I are still in the hospital!

Coloring Eggs

My mom came up on Good Friday morning so we could color Easter Eggs. Last year Kade "helped" but didn't really get into it. However, this year once he figured out what we were doing he wanted to help. He finally got into a "routine" with my mom...she would scoop the egg out with a spoon, he would grab it off the spoon and she would take it and put it on the drying rack. So needless to say his hands were quite colorful at the end. He didn't understand or like that he had to wait after he put the egg in the color! He also got very mad when we were done, he wasn't ready to stop. We have 2 videos of him coloring eggs that I will try to get uploaded soon.

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Little Reader

Kade's new favorite thing is to "read" everything he can. His favorite spots are under the table reading daddy's Sporting News Weekly and reading the paper at the table like daddy.

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A boy and his dog

Kade is crazy about Sunny. He chases her around the house and then she chases him. He can even call her by name, it sounds more like "sis" but she knows he is talking about her! So, Nate decided to put her in his crib and see what they would do. Pretty uneventful, she laid down and he sat right next to her. That is a good thing since as you can see he is a pretty big man in a little bed!

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Mickey Mouse pancakes!

I tried to make Kade Mickey Mouse pancakes for the first time the other night. He has no idea who Mickey Mouse is, but he thought the pancakes were funny. I took a picture because I was very proud of my first try. I should be a pro by the time he knows who Mickey is!