Showing posts with label Oliver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oliver. Show all posts

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Video Break

We interupt our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you the following videos: [Ed. Note: Some of these are a little old, like December old, but I finally managed to get them off the camera, onto the computer, and onto the blog...]


Crib-jumping at Nana and Pa's, January 2010

Santa-dancing with Daddy, December 2009

Ta-Dah! February 2010

Christmas Eve, December 2009

Friday, February 26, 2010

Now We're All Sacred

Following long-standing Western, religious tradition (sort of), we had Maddie baptized last Sunday. I say sort of because, as a supremely helpful sales-person at Macy's pointed out to us, most parents who consecrate their children do so when they're very small, but Jon and I hadn't found a church we liked when she was born, and blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, my feelings that it's-no-body's-business-when-we-get-our-child-baptized-especially-if-you-happen-to-sell-dresses-at-Macy's aside, we finally found a time when all of her grandparents, god-parents, aunts and uncle could be there, and we set it up with the Pastor. Unfortunately for us, this completely nasty weather that's been dogging Kansas all winter (although, only on the weekends, seemingly), decided to load us all up with lots of snow and ice the night before, so my parents and my dad's parents weren't able to attend, and Maddie's godmother (Hi, Kendra!) arrived about ten minutes after the ceremony. (She was able to have the pastor do an impromptu service in the sanctuary doorway as we left, so no worries. It's all official.) That aside, things went pretty smoothly, and we followed up the service with a brunch at her uncle/godfather's house. (Chris, I will apologize again for Jon. I'm sorry he didn't tell you you'd need to stand up in front of everyone with us. It was very remiss of him.)

Below are some pictures that Maddie's 'Pa' (Larry Stoppel) snapped the day of. Thanks to everyone who came and helped make it a special day (and thanks also to those of you who wished you could be there. We understand.) (Also, please ignore my rather flip tone concerning all of this. I know it's a serious and important event; I really do. It's that I'm, well, flip. It's what I do. --A)

During the ceremony. I'm not really nervous about the service. Don't ask me why I look like that...

The parade around the church. The pastor is supposed to carry her, but she wasn't having any of that.

Maddie being admired in the kitchen.

Aunt Christa, doing her best to stain Maddie's nice white dress with purple grapes.

Maddie and Daddy opening a few baptism gifts.


Um, I only included this picture because we all look so attractive, but Kendra and Erica can't hate me because I'm in it, too.


Oh, I'm soooooo tired from all this baptismal stuff. Being good in church sure does take it out of you...

Friday, February 12, 2010

Placeholder

First things first: Yes, yes, I know. Two and a half (okay, really almost three) weeks without a new blog post is way too long. I'm sorry, okay? It's just that there really hasn't been that much going on, and our camera battery is dead, and we keep forgetting to charge it, so we have nothing to write about and no cute pictures to post, and really, you all just come here for the pictures anyway. Admit it.

So, I think, going forward, when I'm out of specific topics to ramble on about or adorable photos to share, I'm going to write something I'm titling a "Placeholder" to keep you generally updated on the goings-on at Casa de Webster-Stoppel (or the Stopster house, as we occasionally like to refer to it).

Since our last post (and seriously, not to call you all out since I've been a blog-writing slacker lately, but how could more of you not have commented on the world's most adorable video?), Maddie has recovered from pneumonia, but it seems that she's segued right into teething, canines no less. This makes her really grumpy, she's running a low fever on and off, and to top it off, she hasn't sleep past 6 a.m. once in the past week. In fact, in the past two days, she hasn't slept past 5:30 a.m. She's still sleeping through the night; she just seems to disagree with her parents as to what constitutes an acceptable end-time for "night." To make matters worse, her usual daycare provider went on maternity leave last Thursday, so we're also dealing with the side-effects of putting her in a new childcare situation. (And don't get me wrong, Michelle's been great. It's just that it's a new place, and while children are very adaptable, they're not quite as adaptable as people will try to lead you to believe.) So, we've been dealing with some serious separation-anxiety at drop-off and bed times, and I feel like this may also have a leeeetle bit to do with why she's getting up so damn early. (Sorry for the cursing, but dudes, I seriously need some sleep, or barring that, at least some "me" time in the morning. This morning, she played with the sliding glass doors to our shower--while I was trying to wash...)

Let's see. What else? Jon and I finally started working on the upstairs bathroom that has taunted me with its hideous '80s wallpaper since we moved in, so we've got that going on. This, of course, means that we've had to move all of Maddie's bath stuff into our bathroom, so right now, my vanity area is not only covered with books, toys, and old jewelry, it's also covered with soft plastic bath toys and towels. It's okay to be jealous of my life, really. Anyway (do you see how lack of sleep affects my mood, people?), so far, we've taken down the offending wallpaper, removed all the cabinets and drawers, taken down the baseboards, torn up the carpet that was covering the step-I-thought-was-going-away-but-now-appears-to-be-staying, and sanded down the cabinets and drawers in preparation for priming and painting somewhere down the line. Our next steps will be to de-popcorn the ceiling and tear out the weird divider/privacy wall by the toilet. I've always found that little half-wall pointless. I mean, I get that maybe it shields the toilet, but it's not like our bathroom is as big as Grand Central Station (or probably even the bathrooms in Grand Central Station). If someone is in there with you while you're going to the bathroom, trust me, you're going to know about it. We'll put up some before, after, and during pictures once the project is completed. Moving on...

Not really sure what to move on to. See? It been a slow news week around here. Um, doo-da-doo-da-doo. Oh, Maddie's been dropping complete sentences every once in a while lately, so that's sort of exciting, right? She'll ask for "More milk, please" or various versions of a request. She'll ask "Where'd [so-and-so] go?" I don't know if she gets all the individual words in phrases such as the last one, but she's repeating the entire phrase, and she knows what it means, so that's good. Her vocabulary is already pretty large for a kid her age (even her doctor said so, so it's not just me being all proud-mom-my-child's-so-special-and-gifted), but it seems like she learns new words every day. They stick, too, which is good. She knows how to ask what something is, and a week or so ago, she busted out the word "spaghetti" at daycare. Okay, so it was more like "bahgeddi", but it was clear enough that Laura (may her maternity leave be pleasant) understood her.

Trying to think if there's anything else going on. Jon and I are currently obsessed with Lost, which yes, I know, is sooooo 2004, but we've been watching it on Netflix, and we're hooked. We're only on Season 2, so if you watch it, for the love of the hatch, don't tell us anything about it, and please, people, don't post anything about it on Facebook or Twitter or what have you. It will only ruin it for the rest of us. Also, shame-moment, the Lost-cession may or may not have something to do with the recent blog silence as of late. I'm sorry. I'll try not to neglect you for so long in the future.
And now, because I told you that our lives weren't currently that exciting and also because we all know it's true, here's the picture you really all read this for anyway:

This was taken last weekend when Maddie and her soon-to-be cousin Oliver were playing at her Uncle Chris'. (Photo courtesy of Nancy "Nana" Stoppel.)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Greetings from Endor...


This was a very special Halloween at the Webster-Stoppel house. It was the first year Maddie was able to participate in the Ghoulous festivities. As you can see, she was an Ewok, and an extremely cute one at that. I will have to give props to myself as I fabricated the Ewok hood from fleece and my mom's old sewing machine. Thank goodness for 7th grade home economics. We took Maddie to the Mildale Farm near Gardner the day of Halloween for some fall fun. It was a great day to be outside and there were pumpkins there, which is all Maddie really cared about. We enjoyed picking out pumpkins, touring the farm, and getting a horse-drawn hay rack ride.
dA parm eben weNts owt dARe bwildings faR wedngs n kaSe daRe R ne snGle ncLes owt daRe.
Sorry, I just got back to the computer, Maddie was typing when I got back I hope she didn't write anything too offensive. Anywho, the last picture is Maddie being endlessly entertained by the plethora of trick-or-treaters. Happy Halloween!
More pictures HERE

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Great Pumpkin (Patch Visit)

First of all, let me apologize for the title. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Charlie Brown Halloween special I'm referring to, but I thought it was clever. On further consideration, it's probably not that funny, but I'm too lazy to think of a new one. Instead, I will spend the time I could have used to think of a better title explaining the lameness of my first one...
Yesterday, we joined Chris, Meghan, and Oliver and took Maddie for her first visit to the pumpkin patch, which only seemed fitting in light of her current love affair with all things round and orange. (Um, just realized basketball season is right around the corner...) It was pretty windy, but we think she really enjoyed herself. She probably would have enjoyed herself more if her Mommy and Daddy weren't such sticks in the mud and would have allowed her to touch, taste, or throw every. single. pumpkin. she. saw. No, really. She still thinks they're balls, so she tries to throw them, and the fact that they don't bounce does not deter her in the least.
In the end, both she and Daddy each chose one pumpkin--Daddy chose a large one with a "nice, flat front" for carving and Maddie chose a small little guy we've nicknamed Arnie. (It helps to nickname anything she's knows by name; otherwise, as soon as you say "pumpkin" she's all "ba-ba? ba-ba?")
Below are some pictures of our visit to Schaake's Pumpkin Patch, located between Eudora and Lawrence. For anyone in the area that's wondering about the experience as a whole, it's not bad. It was really crowded, being the first non-rainy weekend in all of October, and it was a long walk from the parking area to the patch and back. They did have tractor-pulled flatbeds that transported people back and forth, but they were also crowded and hard to come by. Maddie did have a really good time, just seeing that many pumpkins was super-exciting for her, but I think it'll be something that gets better as she gets older. Anyway, the pictures:























Monday, August 31, 2009

Party Like a Rockstar: A Photo Essay


What's all this? A party? Just for me?*


Oh, you guys! You really shouldn't have. I'm so happy I could squat!


And look at everyone who's here. It's my lovely and talented aunts!


Mommy, what is that? Why is there fire on it? Why is everyone singing? Why am I half-naked? Never mind, I don't care if I'm naked. Can I touch that?


Hmmm, I find this green and brown circle intriguing. It smells delightful...


Birthday cake rocks!


Step away from my cake. I am NOT sharing.


Everyone else seems to be enjoying their cake, too.


And then, like most good parties, there was an awkward and inappropriate make-out session in front of everyone. The whole school is going to be talking about this on Monday...


Then there were wagon rides!


I'm not sure what it says about our daughter, kissing one man at the party, and then catching a ride with someone completely different.


Oh, tissue paper! How rapturous!


I love football (and my new Reesing jersey from my uncle)!


#5, small but mighty


Oh, my head feels so much better without my pig-tails. I'm not sure why everyone's laughing, but I'm just going to go along with it. It can't be at me. I look fabulous!


Fabulous, indeed.


*(All photos by Larry Stoppel and Marc Webster.)

Jon and I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone who came to her party and most of all, our parents for all their help in getting ready, setting up, getting food, and cleaning. Maddie had a great time, and so did we. You guys are also rockstars! Thanks a million!