Family Night O' Fun!

We had another busy weekend. The Fitchs, my parents and our family put on a huge yard sale at our house on Sat and Sun. It was extremely successful! Feels so good to be be rid of some of the junk we had in the garage. Our neighborhood is doing another one in March so we saved the leftovers to try and sell next month. After the next sale our garage will look awesome!!
Matt went on his first field trip last week. They went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Performing Arts Center. Matt's piano teacher played the organ for the show. Matt really enjoyed it. This was also his first school bus ride. We talked about it the night before and he was nervous about the bus because he wouldn't have a seat belt. Matt said he started to get nervous during the field trip but then stopped and decided he was actually having fun! After I dropped Micah off at school I saw all the buses pulling away from Matt's school and I cried. How did my little boy get so big?
Micah started gymnastics last week. He LOVES it!! He has been asking everyday when he gets to go again. We did a trial class and didn't even need to go home to talk about if we should sign up for classes. Micah had a huge smile and was bouncing around during the class so after it was over we went right up to the front desk to sign up! So now Matt's special activity is piano and Micah has gymnastics.
Matt brought home a flyer for t-ball. He saw me looking at the paper and asked,"Did you sign me up for t-ball?" I said, "No not yet, but I can if you want to play." Matt quickly said, "No thanks, I don't want to do that." Hmmm...I can respect that but team sports are so important...Matt is off the hook this year but he will probably have to play next year!
Karl took this video of Melea while I was at work this morning.

So here is a glimpse into a typical evening in the Stutelberg home.

Lea loves her bath! I think the days of her bathing in the kitchen sink are coming to an end. I am tired of mopping up water all over the kitchen after her baths!

This is bouncing Micah!

The Karl and Matt Show!

Oh, one more thing...Matt will proudly tell you he has the longest last name in his class! He is also one of the few kids who can spell and write their last name! I hear this is not uncommon among Stutelberg boys. Apparently it was the same for Karl! Micah is also learning to spell our last name. We turned it into a song STU TEL BERG Cha Cha Cha!

Our Colorado Ski Trip

Wow- it has been a long time since I have blogged.

We had an amazing trip in CO at the beginning of the month. We drove to Vegas and spent a few days with family before continuing on to the cabin in CO. Karl's grandma was able to visit while we were there. We hadn't seen her for almost 2 years! We had a great time skiing and spending time with family while in CO. My parents, the Fitchs and my brother were also there. All 3 boys had a great time skiing. Our boys took ski lessons the first day and Karl skied with them the next day. Both boys were able to ski and make turns down the beginner hill!

Micah, Matt and Karl's brother's son Brayden.

I made the cousins matching pjs for Christmas!

My brother and Melea

My grandma and Melea hung out in the cabin most of the week!

Louise, My dad, Lydia, Melea and I packed up luch at the cabin and took it to the hungry skiers!!

Karl and Matt

Karl had a great time skiing with the boys. Matt responds very well to a "teacher" other than his parents and Micah is the opposite. Micah made much more progress skiing when Karl was teaching him.

Luke and Micah

Daddy and his little girl at the Green River Park on the drive to CO.

Melea was so cozy while she watched her brothers ski. She is such a good little girl. Poor baby was so tired in this picture. We had been standing at the base of the hill for over an hour while Karl took turns skiing with the boys!

No more training wheels!!

Merry Christmas to all!! The Stutelberg's had a fantastic Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve. It was an early 5:00pm service for children. Unfortunately there was a really small turn out. The electricity went out in the middle of the service so it ended up being a candle light service. Matt spotted Santa on the way home! We quickly wrote a note and put out cookies for Santa before bed. Sure enough Santa came!! Matt came into our bed at 5:30am asking me if Santa had come and I told him I wasn't sure because it was still the middle of the night! :) He went back to bed until 6:30!
We had a special morning opening gifts, skyping with family and eating a yummy breakfast. In the afternoon we met the Fitch's at my parents house for more gifts, dinner and family time. We had a special day. We are now gearing up for our trip to CO. We are leaving in a few days. We will spend a few days with Karl's mom on our way to and from CO. The boys are looking forward to skiing!
Our goal for this Christmas break was to teach the boys to ride their bikes without training wheels...mission accomplished!! We started teaching them on our street and Matt was proficient on Christmas day! Micah got the hang of it today when we took the bikes to the high-school parking lot to ride. Karl and I are so proud of the boys!! We have incredible kids!! Melea also achieved some milestones...she is rolling and prop sitting! The Amazing Stutelberg kids! The boys also ran in their first race on Christmas Eve day. Karl and I ran in a 5K (thanks to Bill for watching all the kids) and the boys ran in a 1K! They had fun and are so proud of their participation ribbons. Both boys say they can't wait to run it again next year.

Notice at the end of the clip Micah says "Let me go Dad!" Oh Sweetie, if you only knew how hard that is for us Mommys and Daddys!

Our 3 Wise Men

The boys participated in the Christmas play at church today. They did great! They were very sceptical at first but with Karl's gentle encouragement they agreed to participate. Matt was the leader and Micah and Luke followed him up and down the isles on their journey. The boys ended up having a good time and LOVED their "king costumes." "Joseph" was a little boy Matt goes to Kindergarten with and they had fun during rehearsal goofing around. The wise men last year were in high-school so the costumes didn't fit. I had to run out to the fabric store on Saturday afternoon and find material. I think they look great! I think everyone in the congregation liked the play and numerous people said it was the best one in years!


Micah kept dropping his gift! During rehearsal Micah kept picking at the wrapping on the box. I think he was curious to what was inside! I was feeding Melea so I had another mom run up to the front and tell Micah there was nothing in the box!! Problem solved!

Lydia turned ONE on Dec 8th. It is so hard to believe a year has passed since she was born. Louise and Jon had a little "family party" this weekend. Lyd performed well with her cake. Of course the cake was frosted with purple icing! I'm not sure I want to know how my sister created purple frosting! She even took her first real walking steps at her party!
Our Christmas tree is up! Matt has one more week of school before the long break...Christmas is coming fast!

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all! We spent a wonderful afternoon at my parents home. My grandma and uncle were visiting from out of state and it was wonderful to see them.

This was taken a few days before Thanksgiving at our house. I made a fire while the boys watched a movie and Melea took a little nap. Doesn't that look like the perfect spot to nap? So cozy!
Grandma made crepes on Sunday morning. This was Lydia's first crepe! An epic moment! Everybody loves crepes. I think Matt and Micah ate 4 before I cut them off! Our favorites are filled with lemon juice and sugar. YUMMY
Uncle Ray helped Micah paint an airplane. Micah was so proud of it and decided to give it to Ray before he left! It was Micah's idea to give his project away. I am proud of him for being so selfless. He knows Ray is a pilot and loves planes.

Micah and my dad- good hugs!
The family- minus Karl who was taking the picture. My sister hosted Thanksgiving at her house for Jon's family.

4 generations of girls!!

Other news in our house:

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  Matt got "lunch on a tray" for the first time this week. He felt really proud of himself! Of course the crap they serve at school tastes better than the lunch I pack him so he keeps asking to buy lunch again. Karl and I are still deciding how often we should allow him to buy...hummm!


• 
  
  We are in full "advent mode" in our home! This means we do a different activity relating to advent each night. It will be a challage to add something else to our evening activities, but this is important so we will make it happen


• 
  
  Hans, our elf Santa sent from the North Pole, arrived this morning. He came with a note telling the boys he would be watching the boys during the day then returing to the North Pole at night to report to Santa the boys behavior! Last year the boys would find Hans doing silly things in the morning! They found him on the piano or in the pantry or playing with their toys! Fun stuff!!
  

4th birthday video interviews

Me: What is your favorite food?
Micah: Watermelon
Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Micah: An Astronaut
Me: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Micah: You mean when I'm an astronaut?
Me: No, like right now, if you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Micah: To the farmer's market, because they have watermelon there!

Awesome

Melea's Baptism

Melea was baptized this past Sunday. Tom flew out last week and was able to perform the actual baptism. It is special that our kids were baptized by their Grandpa Tom.
We had a busy but fun weekend. Jeanette, Brad, Jack, Raina and Brayden made the trip from Las Vegas. My mom put together a wonderful lunch reception after church.
Karl and I are so blessed to have love and support from our families! Our children are loved by so many people!!

Jon, Louise and Clark are Melea's sponsors

All of the kids have been baptized in this gown. It is a family gown and we know my Grandpa Crane wore it. It could have been worn before that...but it is at least 80-90 years old.

Micah's 4th birthday party!

More pictures and summary to come!

Happy Halloween

Micah-Captain Hook, Lydia-Tinkerbell, Luke-Green Lantern, Matt-Captain Hook, & Melea-Belle

Melea's costume change into Miss Bones

There is WAY TOO MUCH candy in my house right now! I wanted to give out pretzels and pencils but Karl said I would have to be the one to clean the egg off the front of the house! So we gave out candy. Unfortunately we didn't get as many kids coming by as last year so we have a lot of left over chocolate. I have very poor self control when it comes to chocolate so this is not a good thing!

The boys had a blast. They both wanted to be Captain Hook. We borrowed Micah's costume from a friend and got Matt's online. Both boys had parties in their classrooms today. I went into Matt's class to help for awhile. I feel bad for his teacher tomorrow...28 kids hopped up on sugar is scary!

We are celebrating Micah's birthday at his preschool tomorrow because he doesn't have school Wed-Fri this week. Louise and I are planning take all the kids to Kidspace on Wed for Micah's birthday. I will pull Matt out of school for the day. I feel a little weird about this but it's only Kindergarten...

Pictures from Micah's birthday to follow soon...It feels like yesterday I was waddling around huge and pregnant with Micah while we trick-or-treated with Matt!

Micah and Melea

Micah sings to Melea! The boys are such great helpers. They are very sweet with their sister. Matt often wants to cuddle a little too much with Melea. We have to remind him he should give her one hug and one kiss then back up so she can see his face!