Hope's Baptism

Hope was baptized on October 25th in Pender, Nebraska by Reverend Ken Carlson. It was a wonderful service and what was even more special was that we could all be there together as a family. The only person missing from both sides of their family was Dan's brother who happened to be on call.

Here Amaya and Miles are trying to sit very quietly during the service.

Carol and Dan ordered a cake from Hy-Vee and it was absolutely delicious!

Carol, Dan, and little Hope.

Carol, Dan, Hope, and Reverend Carlson.

The Springer family: Hope, Dan, Joshua, Hannah, Jordan, and Carol.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but so much fun being able to see everyone and celebrate this special day with Hope. She's growing up so quickly - just a few days ago, my sister said she was already pulling herself up on furniture! Maybe she'll be walking by Christmas!

Annika's Birthday

Annika's 9th birthday was very special this year, in that all 17 of us celebrated together - IN NEBRASKA! Our niece, Hope was being dedicated on Annika's birthday, so we all trekked down to celebrate two very special events.

Since we have oodles of pictures (thank you Dad!), I'll only post Annika's birthday party pictures today.

Annika's birthday was definitely an American Girl birthday. This is her new American Girl doll, Rebecca.

The Springer's and our family bought Annika this dress for her new doll.

Annika, Hannah, and Lydia with their American Girl dolls.

We had pizza for dinner and A LOT OF BREADSTICKS!!

Even Hope wanted pizza - unfortunately, rice cereal and Gerber's puffs were on her menu.

Along with birthday cake, we had ice cream and every ice cream topping you could imagine!

All the grandkids! (and American Girl dolls)

The three little ones.

Aren't they cute?

Hugs all around!

Tweite's Pumpkin Patch

Mid-October, we were able to make it to the pumpkin patch while the weather cooperated with us. Our dear friends, the Hulls (who we met in our prenatal class) were able to come with us and share in the fun. It was still a little chilly, but that didn't stop our little ones from exploring and having a great time. Jen took some amazing pictures of the kids, so I've combined her pictures and ours.

What's great about Tweite's pumpkin patch is that there are so many things for the kids to do. One of Cooper and Amaya's favorite things was to run through these large tubes and chase each other.

There were several different places were the kids could climb and there were lots of slides!

"Come on, Amaya!"

Amaya wasn't quite sure what to think about the slides, but after a few times, she'd say, "Again?"

A really, really, big slide that Cooper was brave enough to go on.

Tess was quite the trooper at the pumpkin patch.

Even with all the activity, she was able to take a little snooze. Isn't she perfect?!? And she's so cuddly! Love that girl!

And finally, after all that playing, we took a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out a perfect pumpkin.

This is by far, one of my favorite pictures of Steve and Amaya. Thank you, Jen for taking it and sharing it with us!

"I want this one!"

"This one's better!"

Our friends: Steve, Jen, Cooper, and Tess.

Obviously, very happy with our pumpkin purchase.

Home with our new pumpkin!

A Word from Elmo

Hi everyone! It's me, Elmo. I've had a lot of free time on my hands since Amaya's kitty joined the Gatzke household. I'm not sure what happened. She used to take me everywhere and we were inseparable. I comforted her at doctor's appointments, kept her company all the way out to South Dakota and back, and she'd hug me every night in bed. But all of a sudden, I've been replaced by a kitty! She isn't even on TV or have any books written about her! Good grief... I would never have guessed she would have turned her back on me like this. Now all I hear about is, "Kitty this, kitty that." She sobs every time she can't find her beloved kitty. But me? She could really care less about me anymore. Oh, she still likes to watch me on TV and read about me, but kitty gets all the kisses and hugs. I just wish things were the way they used to be - where I was the only one that she cared about. I'm hoping that the kitty thing will just be a fad and she'll come back to loving me as much as she did. Otherwise, I may need to find a new home..!

IKEA/Mall of America Trip

On another adventure this fall, Steve and I took Grandma Horning and Amaya to IKEA and the Mall of America. IKEA is one of my favorite places to get inexpensive decorating ideas. Steve's mom had never been to IKEA, so it was fun showing her everything (and chasing Amaya!) It was a typical Saturday for IKEA so it was crazy busy. I picked up a few things and we waited in line forever. Note to self: Don't go to IKEA on Saturday. However, the chocolate we bought made it worth the wait.

After IKEA we went across the street to the Mall of America to meet my cousin, Jennifer for lunch. Jen would babysit Amaya on occasion and I think Amaya really missed her. Throughout lunch, Amaya parked herself on Jen's lap while we got the scoop on Jen's new apartment in the cities, her job, and her love life!

The next item on our agenda was to visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium at the mall. We weren't sure how long Amaya was going to last because it was already past her naptime, but the fish kept her interest. These next two pictures were taken at the beginning of the trail leading down to the aquarium. Also, please note, Amaya found a "friend" at IKEA and this kitty goes everywhere Amaya goes ever since this trip.



We couldn't believe the size of the stingrays! There were so many and the way the aquarium is set up, the fish were literally swimming above our heads!

Amaya playing on one of the castles just before crashing for a nap in the car.

Since Steve's Dad was hunting in South Dakota for the weekend, after we got back from the cities, we invited Steve's mom over for dinner and watched a movie the rest of the evening. Another fun weekend full of memories!

Toddler Gym Class

Just as Amaya enjoyed taking her swim class, she loved her Toddler Gym Class on Tuesday nights. Both are done now for the year and we'll plan on signing her up for a couple of classes after the holidays.

Here are a few of the things that Amaya participated in:

This was one of the first skills they worked on: trapping a ball. I would roll the ball and Amaya would have to "trap" the ball in the empty juice container. The first week she didn't really understand how to "trap" the ball, but by the end of the class, she mastered it quite well.

Her teacher set up a ladder with various gift bows in between the rungs. This was supposed to resemble a garden. The kids were instructed to place the bows in the ladder and then they were supposed to walk through the "garden" without stepping on any of the flowers. In the background of the picture, there was play equipment set up that Amaya loved to play on.

Amaya liked all of the activities that involved balls. She was able to make quite a few baskets, but wanted to shoot the ball in the grown-up baskets too! Maybe if she gets Steve's height genes, we may have a basketball player on our hands. Who knows?

Each week, there was a different layout of the gym mats. Here Amaya is supposed to climb up the mats and then jump off the top one. At one point, Amaya wanted Grandma Horning to climb up with her and jump too! It was a special treat anytime her grandparents came to watch her!

Amaya liked hanging off the bar quite a bit too - actually, I don't think there was any activity she didn't like. The kids were supposed to hang from the bar for 5 seconds. The longest Amaya was able to hang was 13 seconds - Gymnast maybe?


Again, more balls. They had to practice throwing the ball up in the air and catching it. Amaya liked giving Grandma Horning all the balls and watch her try to juggle. I tried juggling with three balls, but I'm a little rusty.

It was fun to see what skills Amaya had mastered over the course of 6 weeks and to see what she still needs to work on. Every once and while, she'll walk backwards or sideways like she was taught in class. Overall, it was a great class, and I'm not sure who had more fun - me or Amaya or Grandma!

Grandma Gustafson's Birthday

We captured a few pictures from Grandma Gustafson's birthday on October 16th - see, I'm catching up!

I'd like to say that I made this beautifully decorated cake, but Grandpa ordered it from Daube's - the same cake Steve and I had for our wedding - white cake with a raspberry filling - YUMMY!

Amaya's not all that crazy about the cake, but she sure enjoyed the frosting. Definitely following in Grandma's footsteps.

Amaya is giving Grandma her picture that she made. She needed a little help with the scissors, but we keep practicing. We gave Grandma a gift certificate to Daube's and we made Oatmeal Carrot Cookies for her. We had a fun evening, but missed seeing Mike and Arwen and family.

Last Swimming Class

Last night was my last night of swim class. I invited both of my grandparents to watch all my new tricks and all four of them were able to come! WOW, did I ever feel special!

I've learned to swim on my tummy and on my back - with my mommy's help of course. I've also learned how to get out of the pool and then jump right back in. I can blow bubbles in the water without swallowing too much! One of my favorite things to do is to play with the ball in the water. Mommy puts the ball under the water and then lets go and it "pops" out of the water and I go get it. This game is called, "Popcorn!" I also like playing with the Fun Noodle. Mommy puts it under my arms across my chest and I can float pretty good using it.

After class was finished, each kid got a blue ribbon for completing the class! WOW! My first blue ribbon! Very exciting! Then, all of us went to Culver's for ice cream! It was really fun because I had 2 "Poppas" and 2 "Grandmas" at the same time! I got lots of attention!

I can hardly wait until the next swim class in January! I guess I'll have to practice my tricks in the tub until then or convince Mommy to take me swimming every week.

-Amaya

Miles' Birthday

We celebrated our nephew Miles' birthday in early October. It's hard to believe he's already two! The past few months, he's changed so much - he's nearly speaking in complete sentences and can sing his ABCs!

We were invited over to my brother's house where we had grilled tri-tip (Mike's specialty!) Miles' birthday "cake" was a cookie cake with Elmo decorated in frosting. Ben happily showed off the cake and it just about ended up in Grandma Gustafson's lap! Amaya was very impressed with the Elmo cake -- I think she's already thinking about HER birthday.

Miles got some really cool birthday presents and did a very good sharing with Amaya. He got a one of those trikes that have the handle in the back so a parent can help push and steer without breaking their back. (We were lucky and found one at a garage sale the next day!)

After opening presents, Miles and Amaya decided to burn off all the sugar they consumed and ran around the kitchen island. (Again, this would have been a great time to have the video camera!) They are great friends and for the most part get along. Most of their tears are when they want the other one to do something and they don't want to do it. I'm just so glad that Amaya has three cousins - Miles, Hope, and Brian right around the same age to play with.

Grrr...

Amaya went potty three times this morning with my prompting, so I thought we'd try something new. Normally she'll wear pull-ups during the day and I'll take her to the potty when she wakes up, after eating, and an hour after drinking something, etc. Amaya has #2 mastered pretty well, but she isn't very aware of #1. So... instead of putting her in a pull-up, we tried her big girl underwear! When I pulled it out of her drawer and showed it too her, she said, "Oooh... Wooooow! Ma-na wear." We ate lunch and then a half hour or so later, I took her to the bathroom where she went successfully. While I was folding laundry, Amaya was playing happily in her room - coloring and singing. Right before her nap, I told her to go sit on the potty and when I helped her take off her pants - she was WET! I asked her if she knew she was wet, she looked at me with surprise on her face and said, "Ma-na, wet? Oh, no!" Good grief... so much for awareness! I guess we'll just keep trying...