Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmas and the New Year

Wow...ok, so it seems like forever since I've posted. Between 5 family Christmas's we found ourselves to be quite busy over the past couple weeks. We had such a wonderful time though...it was great getting to see all of our family and celebrating the real meaning of CHRISTmas with loved ones!

This was Kaden's first Christmas which was pretty special. Many of our relatives had not met him yet, so that was fun. This was also the first Christmas that Kaelyn really got into opening gifts. The excitement on her face as she opened each one was priceless! She woke up yesterday morning and said "I'm happy. Time to open presents, Santa's here". We had to explain to her that "Santa" already came and would not be back until next year. I'm glad she enjoyed the holiday so much though, that she's still talking about it. :) She and Kaden both received many wonderful gifts. Here are several pics from our time spent with family.

Going outside to play in the snow at Grammy and Grampa's
Kaelyn and her cousin Emry on the sled together

Kaelyn and Emry with their brothers (Kaden and Israel)
Israel and Kaden (cousins just 12 days apart in age)
My Family
My parents with the kids
Emry and Kaelyn waiting to open gifts
She was so excited!
Gift from Uncle Jake
She was thrilled about her new Minnie Mouse underwear :)The best Christmas present this year!!

Our BlessingsKaden

Our Family
She loves anything and everything to do with dolls...so this stroller was a HUGE hit!
One happy girl
Daddy's little Vikings Fan
One last picture. For those who know me, and/or follow this blog, you know that my twin brother and his wife have two sons....Emry who is 12 days younger than Kaelyn and Israel who is 12 days younger than Kaden. They were all born around the same time of year...so I thought this comparison of pictures was kind of fun. This is Emry and Kaelyn at Christmas 2007 and Israel and Kaden at Christmas this year.


This week also marked Kaden's 5 week birthday. I can't believe he's already over a month old! Even though Kaelyn was this age just two years ago....I forgot how fast the time goes. We had his one month appointment on Monday and I could not believe how big he is already. He went from 7 1bs 14 oz and 21 inches at birth to now 11 lbs 7 oz and 22 1/4 inches!! WOW! Our little boy is growing right before our eyes. I'm glad he's growing and such a healthy little guy...but part of me was a little sad to know that he's no longer that 'newborn' we brought home from the hospital. That stage goes SO fast! I already have put away all his newborn clothes and he no longer fits in newborn diapers. Where does the time go?! At three weeks he rolled over from his tummy to his back and is now working on mastering rolling from his back to his tummy. He's already a little boy on the move. It's been fun watching him as he becomes more attentive, we've even gotten a little smirk here and there and it makes my heart melt. Big sister is still loving her little brother and is always asking to hold him. Here is a pic of our growing little peanut....


Tomorrow we will be ringing in the new year with my parents and brother. They are coming up to stay and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll eat lots of yummy food and play some really fun games! Speaking of which, a little side note here...one game I received for Christmas was Marble Pursuit. It's a super fun game we've played as a family for a few years now at family get-togethers and now I have my very own board. I can't wait to play it tomorrow. If you've never heard of it, or are looking for a fun family game, you can check it out here. Anyways...as 2009 comes to an end and I reflect on it...I have to say the one word that comes to mind is blessed. I feel incredibly blessed and have so much to be thankful for. This time last year we did not know that we would be adding a fourth member to our family. That in itself has made our year truly amazing. Kaden is so wonderful. He's such a sweet little guy and we feel so lucky to have been chosen as his parents. Kaelyn is our little sweetie and to have her as our daughter is pure joy! We look forward to 2010 and all that the Lord has for us.

I doubt I will be back to post before the New Year....so to all who read here, I want to wish you a very Happy New Year!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Catching up...

It's been a little while since I posted, so I thought I'd catch you up on what's been going on with the Gaskill's.... :)

After all the snow last week and being confined to the house for the most part, the kids and I were more than ready to get out and do something this weekend. Scott and I had a little more Christmas shopping to do, so we decided to take the day on Saturday and head up to Mankato. It was cold, but a beautiful day to be out and about. We had a wonderful time and finally finished up our shopping. One thing we are realizing more and more each time we go out with the kids is how much longer everything takes...haha. :) I remember when we had Kaelyn we always said how much longer it took us to get from one place to another now that we had a third person to get ready in the morning. Now...having a fourth has made things even more interesting. Just getting in and out of the car and everyone situated is quite time consuming. It was a great day though, and the kids did fantastic! :)

Here's a pic of me with my babies before we left to go shopping....

Other than that we took it easy this weekend. It will be the last weekend for the next three weeks or so that we had nothing going on. Next weekend begins our many Christmas get togethers with family which I'm really excited about. :) Many of them have not met Kaden yet, so that will be fun to introduce him to them as well.

I'll leave you with a couple of pics from the past week (including our Christmas picture of the kids for 2009)....

Christmas Pic 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Our New Nephew

Time has kind of gotten away from me over the past couple of weeks. We have been so busy adjusting to life as a family of four and falling more and more in love with the newest addition to our family. :)

I wanted to update quick with a fun addition to what some would consider kind of a crazy story regarding my twin brother and I. :) As many of you know, I have a twin brother Josh. Obviously we have had to share a lot of things over the years...birthdays, high school graduation, even friends. Most would consider this to be fairly normal, but over the years our story becomes more and more unique. Once graduating high school we both ended up going to the same college...graduating the same year. Our weddings were just 8 days apart and our first children were born just 12 days apart. Like most, we thought the chances of having our children that close together again would be rare. However, back in March when Josh and his wife called to tell us they were pregnant again...we had the very same news. The story got even crazier this past weekend when their second baby was born...get this...just 12 days after Kaden!! We thought that was pretty neat. :)
Josh with his son Israel, and me with Kaden

Me and Israel

We had the chance to go down to Cedar Falls and meet our new little nephew. Israel Michael Sankey is such a sweetie. I can't wait for he and Kaden to grow up together...I know they will be great friends, just like Emry and Kaelyn are. :)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

1 week old....

Tomorrow Kaden will be 1 week old already...I forgot how fast the time goes when they're this little. We're loving every minute and falling more and more in love with the newest addition to our family. Kaelyn absolutely adores him too! He has been such a great baby...so content and sweet. We feel truly blessed!

We have taken quite a few pictures as you can imagine :)...here are several taken over the last week.







Tuesday, November 24, 2009

It's a BOY! :)

I wanted to hop on the computer quick and update you with news of our little one's arrival! Kaden Scott was born on Monday morning and is absolutely perfect. He is such a sweet little boy...we are so in love with the newest addition to our family! Kaelyn is a very proud big sister and LOVES to hold and kiss him! We feel truly blessed.

More pics to come....

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love Ya, Tomorrow...You're Only a Day Away!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love Ya, Tomorrow...You're Only a Day Away!

This was the tune that went through my head as I woke up this morning thinking about the fact that tomorrow is Monday the 23rd...the day I go in to have our little one (unless he/she arrives before that-meaning today, but it's not looking that way). I am very excited to meet our new son or daughter and am happy that the time has finally arrived. I am finally feeling like everything is ready for his/her arrival (house clean, bags packed, etc). I will not be on my blog to post for a while...but will try and pop on at some point to update you on his/her arrival!!

Friday, November 20, 2009

No Baby Yet...

Well...no baby yet. Monday is the day unless he/she decides to arrive early! :) I can't wait to meet our little one and see Kaelyn in her big sister role. I don't think she completely understands what's about to happen, but what she does know is that there's a baby in Mommy's tummy and soon Grammy and Grampa will be coming to stay with her while Mommy and Daddy go to the Dr to get the baby. She's been talking about it a lot lately.

Speaking of talking...her vocabulary continues to amaze us every day! Since before she was 1 she has been talking, single words and short sentences "where's the ball?" was her first bigger sentence at 11 months old. As you can imagine, this vocabulary has only grown and now at two she speaks in sentences to us. It's great being able to have conversations with her...I love it! It's not just the sentences that amaze us, but the words she chooses to use...some days we ask ourselves where in the world she's learned them from. :) For instance, this morning as she at a donut she said, "It's delicious Mommy". Delicious is a word I'd never heard her say before...so that was kind of fun. Last weekend at her cousins birthday party the new 'word of the day' was beautiful! :)

Some other milestones we've been seeing over the past couple of months:

She's also big into letters, numbers, shapes and colors. She can say and recognize more than half the alphabet, can count to 13 and recognizes some of those numbers, and loves to point out her shapes and colors to us. What a big girl!

Singing is also a huge deal around here. She LOVES to sing! Lately it's been ABC's and more recently 'Jesus Loves Me'. I'm going to try and get it on video soon so I can share it with you all.

Anyways...I have a feeling this will be the last time I post before Baby Gaskill's arrival. We have a very busy weekend ahead getting ready for his/her arrival. I will keep you posted... :)

Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Monday, November 16, 2009

What a busy weekend!

Wow...the past several days have been a whirlwind and very busy for us. Thursday we had my Grandma's visitation and Friday we had the funeral. It was a sad time, but also one of celebration as we reminisced about her life and the memories we have to cherish. It was great to see many family members and friends as well. Saturday our nephew Emry turned 2! He and Kaelyn had so much fun playing around at his Circus Themed Birthday Party! It was a blast and I'm so happy we were able to be there to help him celebrate. (I'll post more pics soon)

Yesterday, Scott, my dad and my brothers all went to the Vikings game. They had a great time, while us girls were home and able to relax some. After such a busy few days, it was nice to have a day like that.

Today marks the one week countdown until we meet the newest addition to our family...can you believe it?! Ahhh...it's so exciting! :) We're really looking forward to meeting our little one. The fact that it's only 7 days away though, means I still have some things I need to do. I'm not sure how good I will be about posting this week as I need to make sure everything is ready for his/her arrival. I will be sure to update you soon though on the arrival of our little one. :)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A Bittersweet Week So Far

Today I had my Dr Appt and everything is looking great....just one more appt. and then we'll get to meet our little one (unless he/she decides to arrive early).:)

On a more sad note....my Grandma (Dad's Mom) passed away yesterday. She had Alzheimer's for the past 8 years or so....so her quality of life was taken from her long before now. My Grandpa passed away in 2006 and that is when she went into nursing home care. I'm saddened that she is no longer here with us, but am SO thankful for her Faith in the Lord and know that she is much happier and finally free of this disease which took the last 8+ years of her life away, as well as the fact that she is now with my Grandpa once again. I will be sure to share the memories I have of her with our children and can only hope they grow to learn how wonderful she and my Grandpa both were and what a profound impact their Faith had on us and our entire family.

My family is currently in the process of planning funeral arrangements. Between that and our nephews birthday this weekend, I am unsure when I will update my blog again. Will keep you posted on Baby Gaskill :)....

Monday, November 9, 2009

Two Weeks and Counting....

Well...only two weeks to go...I can't wait!! :) It's weird to think that we are down to that short amount of time already. Knowing that the baby could come at any time and things will be getting quite busy soon, we spent Saturday afternoon putting up our Christmas tree and decorations! I know, it sounds early....but we figured we'd rather have it done now and not have to do it once the baby is here. It's kind of fun.....feels like Christmas already in our house. :) Kaelyn sure loves all the lights and decorations too. Scott just has lights to hang outside on the house sometime this month and everything will be done. Such a great feeling!

Saturday morning we had Kaelyn's 2 year pics taken. She did very well and we got some good ones. When I have a little more time I will try to post a few of them. I still can't believe my baby is too....weird to think that much time has gone by already. We are truly blessed...she is such an amazing little girl!

This week I have a Dr Appt and also look forward to the weekend. Saturday is our nephew Emry's birthday (he's turning 2) so we get to go down to Cedar Falls and celebrate with family and friends....should be a great time! Sunday, Scott, my brothers and my Dad are all headed to the Vikings game...I know they'll have a wonderful time. Us girls are just going to hang out and enjoy an evening at home.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Enjoy this beautiful weather!!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

More Pics....

Just 2 weeks and 3 days until we meet our little one! I know I've said this many times, but it's amazing to me how fast this pregnancy has gone. I'm hoping the next few weeks continue to go just as quickly, as we are very excited to meet our new son or daughter and for Kaelyn to meet her new sister or brother. :) Everything is still going smoothly...except for the fact that it's becoming harder and harder to sleep at night. I just can't seem to get comfortable. I told Scott this is my body's way of preparing me for those sleepless nights with a newborn...at least I'll be ready. :) He/she moves all around all night long, that doesn't make it easy to sleep either. I love it though...we feel very blessed!

I realized yesterday that I never posted any pics of the kids trick or treating. Emry (Kaelyn's cousin) was here, so they went trick or treating together. Our mall here in town does a fun trick or treating event every year, so we took them there out of the cold. They had a lot of fun!




Over the weekend, Diana (my sis in law) also helped me finish decorating the kids' rooms. She is SO good at creating vinyl decor, so I asked her if she would help me make something for Kaelyn's room and the baby's room. When she showed up to our house with the following things...I was thrilled!!
Kaelyn's Room




Baby's Room



Well, I hope everyone is having a fantastic week....

Monday, November 2, 2009

Kaelyn's TWO!

Yesterday was Kaelyn's 2nd birthday...where did the time go?!? As I prepped and prepared for the big day, I continually thought about that day two years ago when we brought her home from the hospital! I'm sure that's something that goes through every parent's mind as their children continue to get older. I have a feeling most parents often find themselves asking the same question...where has the time gone?

I'm a little sad that she's already two. My little girl is getting so big...speaking to us in full sentences, having us wondering half the time where she has learned to communicate the way she does at such a young age. She's also becoming more independent and amazes us each and every day. I feel so blessed to be her mom...I couldn't ask for a sweeter little girl. Although it's a little sad to see her getting so big, we also know that exciting things are to come. Each stage offers many new and exciting things, and soon that will be our family becoming a family of four. I cannot wait to see Kaelyn as a big sister, as I know she will be the most helpful and loving there is.

We had some great times with family so far to help celebrate Kaelyn's big day! Friday we spent the evening with Scott's family...having cupcakes, opening gifts and visiting. Saturday my family was over. We had cake (the first cake I've ever decorated...Scott helped a lot too), opened gifts and that night Kaelyn and her cousin Emry got to go trick or treating together. Sunday we spent the day at home and had a few other family members stop by throughout the day. It was a very special weekend for Kaelyn and I couldn't be happier about that.

The Cake :)

Playing with her cousin on her Birthday


As I was reminiscing about our little girl and how much she's grown, I came across several pictures throughout the past two years that I thought I'd share....

4 days old

3 Months

6 Months

9 Months

12 Months

15 Months

18 Months

21 Months

24 Months