Snow...again

We woke up on Saturday morning to yet another white wonderland. I had to run some errands, and when I returned home I found a massive showman guarding the front lawn (the photo below only shows his bottom half - he actually towers above Scott). I also discovered, via the photographic evidence, that Scott had allowed Lincoln to push Guy around in the dump truck over the icy, snowy driveway. As the video shows, this involved a few harrowing moments...

ps. Despite what you've been seeing in the blog lately, we do actually leave the driveway sometimes. In the past few weeks we've gone to the library, Fritz's, Science City, and several other places...sans camera.

Dear Madeline, Welcome to the family

On Monday morning, around 6 a.m., the King family grew by one small, dark haired person when Tracy and Joni's new bundle of joy, Madeline, finally arrived. We're all very excited for them, and you can learn all about her at Tracy and Joni's blog.

The boys have not been able to meet Madeline yet because the hospital doesn't allow kids (they're concerned about the H1N1 virus), so we're still waiting to get Lincoln and Guy's reaction to her. We'll post pictures of the whole crew as soon as we have them.

Our Budding Photographer

Recently, we dug out an old digital camera and let Lincoln take a turn behind the lens. This was Linda and my first digital camera - a gift from my parents from back in 1999 - and we have taken thousands of pictures with it. That being said, when we gave it to Lincoln it took him all of 30 minutes to burn out the flash (which I didn't even realize was possible). He took photo after photo in rapid-fire fashion until the flash stopped working. His photos are now a little blurry and a bit more artistic, but he still loves it. Some of his latest works are on display below. (The first one is my shot of Lincoln in action.)

Time to go outside...Finally!

Last weekend, Linda hosted a baby shower for Joni (who is due in just a few weeks). While Linda, Mary, and others had brunch at Grand Street Cafe, me and boys hung out at home with Everett.

I was thrilled that it was warm enough to get outside and burn off some steam. I probably wouldn't have survived inside alone with three crazy kids.

We spent our outside time riding bikes, shoveling snow, and playing lawn mower crash-up. A good time was had by all.

Mr. Average

Guy had his 1-year appointment yesterday and I'm happy to report that he is pretty much average. He weighs 20 pounds (he stood on the regular scale!) and is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.

Guy had lots of fun at the doctor's office. First he got to play with the toys in the "kids" part of the waiting room, and then he got to play with the tongue depressor the doctor gave him.

Afterwards, he came home and participated in his new favorite hobby - "climbing on chair".

Snow Days

Kansas City has been a snowy place this year. When we're lucky enough to have the temperature climb into double-digits, we've tried to get outside to burn off some steam and enjoy some time in the snow.

Guy loves the outside but can only last a few minutes before he's freezing. In the mornings he is excited to put on his coat only to be disappointed when he gets put in the car and shuttled off to daycare. Although, as we've said before, he's really liking his new daycare room and the bigger kids to play with.

This week Lincoln got to build his first snowman after the weather finally cooperated. We used what we could find on short notice and put together a somewhat sad looking snowman with an old towel for a scarf, one acorn for an eye, and two small sticks for arms (it's tough finding supplies when there is a foot of snow everywhere). Now every morning and night, Lincoln is excited to go see if his snowman has melted.

The Toddler Room

We hope everyone is having a good start to the new year. Scott and I spent New Year's Eve in Chicago attending my cousin's wedding (and doing some shopping in the freezing Chicago winter), while the boys spent some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa King.

When we returned to the "real world" Guy had his first day in the toddler room at daycare. We had been preparing for the transition for awhile - getting him used to eating finger foods and easing him out of his morning nap. Guy has been having a bit of separating anxiety lately, so we still expected a bit of crying the first day Scott dropped him off. We needn't have worried, though, as Guy loves his new room. He didn't shed a single tear during the first dropoff, and he was happily playing with the kitchen set when I picked him up that day. I guess he's more independent than we thought!

In honor of my "baby" graduating to toddlerhood, here's a few photos of the boys at Grandma and Grandpa King's

Happy 1st Birthday, Guy!

Yesterday Guy celebrated his 1st birthday. Our house was filled with not-yet-played with Christmas gifts, but it was time for another celebration.

We had a small party with Grandma and Grandpa Hauner and Mary, Randy, and Everett. Guy enjoyed his cake, but wasn't thrilled with it (it's not baby yogurt, you know). He even managed to keep his shirt on - if you remember Lincoln's first birthday, he ended up eating and opening gifts shirtless. Guy received lots of great gifts, including his very own vacuum cleaner and a mailbox that Lincoln's been playing with all morning.

Guy has really come a long way in his first year. He has been walking since Thanksgiving and can even run a bit. He says "mommy", "daddy", and a form of "banana" (I even thought he said "kitty" once, but he hasn't repeated it). He waves bye-bye and tells himself "no" when he gets too close to the stairs (even though he'll still go up). His favorite game is wrestling with Lincoln, and his favorite foods are yogurt and bananas.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We've had a great day - luckily last night Santa was able to find our house in the snow storm.

After opening presents, which included matching his- and hers- sweatshirts for Linda and me (courtesy of Lincoln and his daycare), we all bundled up and went out to clear the driveway of the 6 inches of snow we got last night. It didn't take long before we were all cold and crying, so he headed back inside for lunch.

Lincoln and I went out later in the day to practice skiing with the skis Grandma King got him in Colorado last year. He's a natural but was soon cold and wet, so back inside we went.

Now we're off to Mary and Randy's for dinner with them, Everett, and Grandpa and Grandpa Hauner. Best wishes to all.

Santa Pictures

Last weekend, my work had our annual Kid's Christmas Party - complete with Santa, crafts, and cookies. We all went, and Lincoln and Guy had a great time.

Before the party, Lincoln had declared that he would not sit on Santa's lap and that he didn't want to talk to Santa either. Guy was indifferent.

When our turn was up, we assumed it would be a "Guy-only" picture. However, we ended up luring Lincoln near Santa with the promise of candy canes, and at the last minute, we sat him on his lap. It all worked very well.

Although Linda and I encouraged Lincoln to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, he remained silent and we all decided later that maybe a letter would be more appropriate. Overall, it was a great day.

Belated Thanksgiving

We just got back from an extended weekend in Lincoln, but as most of my time there was spent doing super-secret Christmas stuff we don't really have any good photos to share. Instead I'll give you a belated Thanksgiving update.

After spending the morning with my parents, we travelled to Hastings for Thanksgiving with the extended King family. Afterwards they played the traditional football game in balmy 60 degree weather. Even Lincoln and I got in on the action!

Here's the actual folks that played. Note that they're wearing matching jerseys.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at Scott's parents. We spent one afternoon walking through Werner park with the boys. Although there was a "path" mowed through the grass, it was still an adventure trying to maneuver the sit'n'stand.

Lincoln also demonstrated his hopscotch skills at the local elementary school.

There was lots of other fun events during the week - Joni's baby shower, Lincoln's first attempt at driving a remote-control car, and even (of course!) some Christmas shopping. I don't think the business will let up until after Christmas.

V is for Visitors

My parents were in town this weekend, so the kids got a good dose of Grandma and Grandpa King. They picked both boys up from daycare on Friday afternoon, which is a special treat for Lincoln. He looked forward to it all week.

Friday night, we braved the adventure of restaurant dining and ate at Mama's on 39th street with Mom, Dad, Tracy, and Joni. It's a great diner that's mostly kid friendly and has pages of omelets to choose from (amongst other things).

My parents left for home on Saturday afternoon, and the kids were ready for dinner and bed. As you can see from the picture, Guy melded dinner and bed into one event - is that "binner"? He was beat after a lot of running around (literally) and battling with two new front teeth - that makes 8 teeth in total.

Walker, Baby Ranger

For the last few weeks, Guy has been able to take 1-2 steps on his own. This week he started walking in earnest, at times going all the way across the living room. In this video he's showing off his new skill, although he's moving much slower than he normally does. We started taping this after he'd been chasing Lincoln around all evening, so by the time we recorded this he was pretty tired.

Picture Time Again

We had our fall family portraits done with Stacey Schmitz a couple of weeks ago. As usual they turned out great. He took some great photos of the whole family, but I really like these photos of Guy and Lincoln together.

Trick or Treat!

This weekend, Guy celebrated his first halloween. Luckily, he recovered just in time to enjoy the fun after being sick Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (lucky for Mom and Dad too). As you can see from the pictures, Guy loved playing in the leaves. For all of you that remember this post from November 2006, Guy certainly enjoys the leaves more than Lincoln did.

Since this was the first halloween that Lincoln was really into trick-or-treating, we did some extra walking and visited most of the houses in the neighborhood (at least our little piece of it), and Lincoln has the treats to prove it.

Story-time

We read stories to Lincoln every night before bed, and when he finds a book he likes we end up reading it over and over (and over and over) again. I had no idea how much sank in until he decided to read some books to us tonight. Scott captured a bit of his storytelling on film - this is actually the third book he read to us (and the least memorized). Extra credit to anyone that can name the book he's reading.



There was a snippet of Guy in that last video, but in case that wasn't enough for your daily Guy fix we have some video of him playing with Lincoln's pull-toy. Guy has had a fever off and on since Wednesday (so apparently the daycare wasn't just imagining it...) so I was home with him today. He seemed a little better this evening, and we're hoping he be recuperated by Trick-or-Treating tomorrow. (Double bonus points if you can name the story Lincoln's reading in this video)

Flu season?

Considering both kids are in school/daycare and Linda and I work, we feel very lucky not to have been sick yet this year. That being said, I had to pick Guy up from daycare today - he had a (very slight) fever of 100.1 F. We think his daycare is a bit paranoid about their kids and the flu, which isn't such a bad thing, but it stinks when it's your kid who gets sent home.

Anyway, Guy was acting fairly normal this afternoon, so we'll see what tonight and tomorrow bring. We think he's teething again because he's been chomping on everything in sight for the last few days. We'll keep you posted.

26.2

This weekend, Tracy and I ran the Kansas City Marathon. We both finished the full 26.2 miles and beat our goal times. It was one of the most difficult and fulfilling things that I have ever done. Our entire family was there to cheer us on, and the way the course is setup, they got to see us run by a couple of times.

One Cold Festival

The Shawnee Indian Mission is right next door to Lincoln's school. Each year they put out signs about their fall festival, but we've never actually gone to it. On Saturday afternoon we had some (rare) free time so we decided to check it out (it's free!). Unfortunately for us, though, the high temperature on Saturday was around 40 degrees.

The festival was a lot of fun, but it would have been even more fun if it wasn't so cold. Lincoln won a cupcake at the cupcake walk, and there were historic re-enactors (and tipis) as well as crafts to make or purchase. The boy scouts also had an obstacle course that will be fun for the boys when they get older.

As you can see in the photos, Guy slept for pretty much the entire trip. As for us, the highlight of the festival was the hot apple cider (yum!).

50%

Last Monday I took Guy in for his 9-month appointment. He is almost 19 pounds, which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight, and his 28 inches is the 75th percentile. Guy seems huge next to Lincoln (and weighs almost the same), so it is actually surprising to me that he is *only* in the 50th percentile. At the rate he is going, we're predicting that Guy will outweigh Linc by his first birthday.

Guy didn't have any shots scheduled, but I took advantage of the appointment to get him a flu vaccine. He took it like a trooper (didn't even cry!) and so far doesn't seem to have had any reaction. Since this is his first flu shot he only got 1/2 a dose, and we have to take him back for the second half. Scott and I will be getting the flu shot at our workplaces, and we should be able to get one for Lincoln at his school or our county health department. Now we just have to see if we'll be able to get the H1N1 vaccine...

Here's a few shots from this morning of Guy getting some exercise with his walker. He does great pushing this toy around, but he's not so great at steering. He usually ends up stuck up against a wall until we turn him around.

At the park

Last Friday, we got to spend the evening with Everett. Lincoln and Everett have finally gotten to ages where then can play together and actually have fun. We took advantage of the nice Fall weather to go to the park where Lincoln and Everett got to practice balancing and have good time chasing each other.

Summer League flashback

This is another flashback post. We haven't gotten too many new pictures recently, so we're relying on the "flashback" to keep things interesting

That being said, here's what we've been doing lately -- I've been running a lot getting ready for the KC Marathon, Linda has been knitting Christmas stockings, Lincoln is enjoying preschool, and Guy is getting teeth and practicing walking (and falling).

Now, back to the flashback. In August, Tracy and I wrapped up our ultimate frisbee summer league with the annual year-end tournament. Linda, the boys, and Joni also came out to watch. It was a sunny, fun day.

Tour of Missouri 2009 Recap

Last week was the 2009 Tour of Missouri. My parents were in town, and we spent the weekend riding our bikes, talking about bikes, and watching people ride bikes. It was a great weekend.

The 2010 Tour of Missouri is potentially on the State's budget chopping block. There are many sites/blogs out there dedicated to saving the Tour of Missouri. Check out the sites out and write a letter of support to the Governor of Missouri, if you'd like.

Here are some pictures from the time trial in Sedalia, MO on Friday.

Dave Zabriskie - Tour of Missouri 2009 winner

Levi Leipheimer

George Hincapie

Dance Party

Scott and I never really went to any wild parties in our younger days, so it's somewhat of a surprise that evenings at our house have turned into a crazy dance scene. These videos show some of the shenanigans that go on - the first one shows Guy's new dance moves, including the infamous "head dance". The second one shows Lincoln playing a tune on his improvised "guitar" while a reveler does some damage in the background.

A day at the zoo

Last Sunday Tracy, Randy, and I got up early and rode the 2009 Tour of Missouri Stage 7 circuit in Kansas City. While we were out having fun, our families (i.e. wives) were back at home making us a great re-fueling breakfast of blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes.

After breakfast, we went to the zoo to enjoy the beautiful 75 degree day. We tried to get pictures of all the kids in one shot, but that proved to be quite difficult. Here's the best we could do.

Lincoln and Everett really liked these rocking chairs that overlooked the lake. Guy's sitting in the new "sit and stand" stroller we bought. It proved to be worth every penny as Lincoln hopped on and off throughout the zoo visit.

There's a little cave in the "Africa" part of the zoo, and the boys had a fun time running in and out of it and smiling for the camera through one of the cracks.

Of course, no blog post would be complete without a picture of Guy sleeping. He stayed awake for most of trip, but by the end he was ready to go home and continue his nap.