Crib Is UP.

We are moving right along and getting ready for the baby. After much contemplation about the bedding I decided that I really want it to "match" it's gender so I am going to wait to decorate until AFTER Hammie is born. We have a bed. We have a changing table and are ready, but want to paint and stuff after it is here so it's room will be good to go for awhile.

I have picked out the bedding and will order it once the time is a little closer. We tried to look at it when we went to Des Moines, but of coarse I picked stuff that is online only. If it is a girl then I want purple and green. I will make some of the stuff like the bed skirt and stuff. This time around we aren't going to get the quilt that never gets used! I really like this butterfly or flower stuff also - I think my mom and I can figure out how to get something close.

I am not 100% sure on the boy stuff, but have some green and brown picked out currently at Babies R Us. Probably a dark brown bumper and who knows about the skirt. The crib looks a little silly without one though. Haven't thought much about decorations.

Ally helped Jason put the crib together today.

Drew "supervised."

It is up and ready for a little person to come live with us in no more than 9 weeks - hopefully a little earlier!

I would have posted pictures of the guest room, but they ordered the wrong color of headboard so we are waiting for that to come in.

Have I ever Mentioned?

Have I ever mentioned that I hate our van. Actually that is pretty strong. I really do like our van - I never thought that I would drive a mini-van (yes Angi - you told me so....).

This lovely van has been broke it seems more than it has been driveable. I was watching the Today show last summer and they were talking about the biggest money scams - Extended warrenties were on there. In our case - it has SAVED us oh about $25,000. Yes and that is actually a LOW and conservative number. It broke down again this week for an unknown reason, but this time the warrenty company said - oh that part isn't on the list - ARGHHH. There are 600 miles left on the warrenty and over 20,000 miles on the engine (which has been the big problem).

So Amy keep reminding us that this van has to be gone by this summer!

What would you buy? Obviously we will be buying the extended warrenty - it was worth our money.

Happy 30-Something Birthday!

I had lots of fun this week. I didn't try and "bug" Jason about my birthday plans since I knew that there was no way that he could forget it. I had been counting down since Christmas.

Last year he was so bogged down with work that he was unable to get my cake finished. This year he stayed up late one night to finish my cake. He claims that it isn't his best work, but I still loved it. I love round two layer cakes, but he says there isn't enough room to decorate. If you can't tell - Tinker Bell is driving Lightnigh McQueen. Drew and Ally couldn't decide on the characters so we compromised!

The "best" (hear the sarcasm) part of my birthday was waking up to - not the blueberry pancakes that I typically get, but a van that absolutely LOVES our family. Yep - our lovely Kia Sedona is broke again. After much research, Jason discovered a pulley that is missing so the serpentine belt is off. Originally we thought (and are still hopeful it is not) the alternator. So he took me to school and headed to work. At least I didn't have to drive to work!

We went to HuHot for supper. The kids were thrilled since they love to make their own dishes and watch the guys cook for us.

On Friday Jason invited our small group over for Bunco and snacks. It was a lot of fun. If you notice in the picture my shoulder is SLIMED. I had been holding 11 week old Maddie who is a mircle from God. She had a pacemaker put in when she was a few hours old.

Saturday was my real treat. On Thursday I had opened a box with a backgammon board, Pottery Barn magazine, diaper and box of Mac & Cheese. What does all this mean - at first I thought another trip to Turkey, but a close second is a trip to Des Moines to Pottery Barn and Babies R Us - one of my favorite store and another necessity at this time that we don't have in our area. We picked up lots of ideas for decorating and just loved walking through Pottery Barn and decided we probably need to head back again to DM after we know that is REALLY in all those totes in the basement before we decide what baby stuff we need to buy. All this with NO kids. They stayed with my parents for the days - getting spoiled - they weren't in bed when we got back at 10:00!

To top the whole thing off - Jack and Sheryl and precious Lorelai born 2 weeks ago joined us for supper at Macaroni Bar and Grill - hence the mac and cheese. They are home for a couple months from Turkey on state-side.

So let's just say that I had a great birthday even though Jason keeps telling me I am getting close to 35 - Really I am still closer to 30 though!

The best part is that my mom sent me an email saying happy 31st birthday. I called her to tell her that I really was older. She didn't believe me until she pulled out her calculator and typed in 2009-1977! Thanks mom! Not sure if you feel older now or me!

Thinks He's Cool

I just got told at supper by my four year old son - Good job my friend - fist pump.

I don't remember what I did to deserve this high compliment, but sat there shocked as Jason about fell on the floor.

Records

The kids didn't have school on Friday - it was a teacher's meeting day. So they still went but got to play all day with their friends. But it was COLD. It was so cold that we kept our hat and mittens on the whole way and the heater never caught up. I stopped to get the picture of the thermometer on the way at the coldest part. By the end of the day, the temps rose 60 degrees. If you are in Iowa you know that we have had a some warm days with a high of 30. But what did you think of the wind on Saturday - Glad that the temps were reasonable. Our subdivision almost got snowed in!

This week looks a ton better and we should be able to head to school every day ALL day!

It's Cold

That might be an understatement, AND I am tired of being indoors and in my house. I think that when it warms up to at least -15 or so we might try and head out and do some errands. We won't have a whole day of school this week - now that is crazy!

Monday - Early out - 5 inches of snow and blowing
Tuesday - Late Start - Blowing and cold
Wednesday - 5-6+ inches of snow, blowing and Cold
Thursday - BITTER cold - exact words from the news cast
Friday - No school planned - teacher inservice

Drew is in HEAVEN!!! He likes his stay at home days. He would choose to stay home rather than anywhere - almost McDonalds is the exception I think! Last night as I was putting him to bed I told him that we would eat breakfast at home before going to school since we knew we had a late start.

He said - Mommy come here and look out my window.

We frequently do this to check for deer in the front yard or just to look at the weather or moon, but tonight he said with all sincerity (for our safety). The snow plows have plowed our streets, but they haven't gotten to the one to school yet. We will have to stay home tomorrow.

In his shyness (truly) he didn't want me to tell the story to Jason, but how could I not. About 15 minutes later, he got his wish for another stay at home day - so fort building, legos and other fun things to drive mommy crazy - here we come!

Rachael Ray

My daughter (and I) LOVE Rachael Ray. If we are home, we flip it on to mainly watch the cooking part of the show - I think that we are going to start DVRing it. Ally stops whatever she is doing to carefully watch what she is doing and asks questions. Today we watched her make a yakatori noodle bowl. We decided to make it for supper and it was a hit! There are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow - bummer! It was basically teriyaki chicken and noodles.

Maybe my little girl will be a chef?

Another Computer Guru

This picture is TERRIBLE but is shows what my little boy likes to do after nap - Nick Jr. I need to get a real mouse for my laptop so they can both be on it and the fighting will stop, but until then we have 15 minute turns.

Also nobody probably has ever noticed, but when we moved into our house we didn't have a hardwood floor mat for our office chair. After 2 plus we finally got a chairmat and the piece of cardboard is retired - and a good piece it was!

Snow - Snow and some More Snow

We keep getting snow and it really doesn't/shouldn't make the news. It isn't record snowfall or even really terrible to travel in. I can handle 2-5 inches at a time - it is the ice and wind that comes before or after that is not so fun. The last couple storms have been had no ice. We woke up to LOTS of snow on Saturday. I think we were suppose to get 1 inch but really what is the difference 1 or 5 inches. No big deal. We cleaned the house and then all went out to work and play. I love the snow blower - why didn't we buy one several years ago. I can't imagine how sore and tired Jason would be without it. I did help a little with it. It is a cold and wet job using it, but you feel like a champ when you are done. Please no comments about a 28 wk prego woman scooping snow - I wasn't in pain afterwards.

Today we got another 3 or snow inches (total about 8 on the ground - not too bad!) We got out of school early today. The 3 inches aren't the bad part it is the 35 mph winds that are following the storm. Like I said I don't mind driving in 3 inches - you can still "see" the road or most of it. It is the lack of visability that I strongly hate! We got home way before that hit. It actually probably got to our house about the time that we headed out after supper in the dark to clean off the driveway. It was fairly calm and then the wind came up and wow it burned your cheeks! We are in a blizzard warning tonight. Man I don't want another no school day - late start would be nice.

The next storm blows (literally again) either Tuesday night or Wednesday for another 3-5 inches and some more blizzard like conditions. So that would put about 10 inches on the ground and another chance for some on Friday. I love Iowa winter. I love that we have change so often and it is not always warm - even though there are days that I wish for some 70 degree weather.

One positive - Ally can define blizzard for you correctly today!

Dust off the Rook Cards - Some Math Ideas for You!

Ally brought home a couple weeks ago some "homework." Actually she has brought other homework home. I am becoming the parent that I get so frustrated with - the ones who "forget" to send stuff back! I am trying to get better, but for some reason it is always the mom that has to go through the book bag.

I am a big fan of math - for some obvious reasons?!?! Don't get me wrong - we read and have her sound things out. But it is not always our focus - I am not a natural "reading" teacher. But math is a different story. Sometimes I can't believe what she is "learning" in kindergarten math since it seems so basic, but I guess there are other kids out there that don't get their addition facts as early as our kids. (We taught addition at supper with eating bites!)

They have been working on pattern units and counting units. The counting unit has been interesting. Some ideas out there to do with your kids that will help them gain number reasoning skills (and I approve this message!)

1. When you grab a random amount of something - napkins, cookies, fish crackers, legos, etc have the ESTIMATE (tell you how many the THINK are there). Then have the count them. Estimating is a skill that many kids are weak at in the middle levels but hey let's help them out when they are young.
2. When bored at the dr. office while WAITING - have them figure out how many eyes are in the room or fingers or toes or legs on the chairs. Some may start out by counting each one but that is OK!
3. Teach skip counting (evens and odds) then work your way up to doing 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s. (hopefully then later they can do the dr. office game by using those strategies.
4. As a beginer (like Drew or a 3yr old) draw numbers on one side of the page and pictures of objects on the other. Have them connect the picture to the number. Or make big number pages on paper - have them search the toy room and find that number of objects for that number.
5. Our newest idea - from our favorite kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Glanz - She gave us number cards to 10, but I pulled out the Rook cards since they went to 14. You can make your own cards but I would put them on cardstock. I would have a stack of at least 4 of each number. Divide the cards out between you and your kiddo. Each flip a card. Whoever has the bigger number says - ME and gets the cards. ALly is much faster than Drew but sometimes he makes a mistake - tonight it was 9 and 6 so we "built" those numbers out of fingers or legos or whatever and he had to redecide. We did it with 12 and 13 also.

You can do different variations of this game - like playing which is least. We have also added the two cards together and one person gets the evens and the other the odds. (throwing in our skip counting stuff!) Tonight Ally and I made a new variation of having 5 cards in our hand and playing the bigger number to get our partners cards.

You can do so much with younger kids to build number sense. These are all great ideas, but the most important part would be your kid EXPLAINING why they are making the decision to you. At first they won't be able to do it and you should model the reasoning or give them ideas of how to start, but you know they understand it if they can talk it through!

If you want more ideas - let me know. And if you are a stalker that has some great reading skill games - let me know:)

New Family Members

Introducing the newest family members - Sparkles, Mo, Sally, Gerkin, Mickey, Minnie and Kevin.

I guess we will see how long I can keep them alive. Ally got a new fish tank from Grandma Rhonda for Christmas. It has taken us a week to get the "stuff" and water in it. She came up tonight so that we could pick out some fish. Now they are all swimming happily.

Jason ended bedtime stories with "Fish out of Water" to remind them "not to feed the fish too much or something may happen, you never know what."

My Final Post for 2008

If you didn't get our 2008 Christmas letter, enjoy a brief recap written by Jason.



Shortly before Thanksgiving, I looked back at some of the Christmas letters that we have written over the last few years. Each year, we gave a (somewhat) humorous update of the events of our lives and then the letter concluded with one or two sentences asking you to ‘remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.’ Looking back over this past year, one or two sentences just won’t cut it.

We rejoice constantly that 2008 has been the year that God has provided for us and the people we are close to again and again and again. This has been a year that has had more trials than we are used to, but at each step along the way we have seen the Grace of God working and the Hand of God providing, and caring for his children. This letter won’t give you a lot of details, but since the last time we wrote, He has carried us through a short period of unemployment, protected family from tornados, strengthened us through flooding, and healed severe pregnancy problems (our own, and those very close to us).

Sometimes along the way we struggled, wondering why these events were taking place and worrying about what would happen. Other times we faced the events with full confidence that our Father would carry us through. Each time, we have seen His Grace poured out and our faith in Him has been strengthened. We thank Him daily for how He takes care of us.

We thought about making this year’s Christmas letter a list of the things that HAVE NOT changed in the last year (we live in the same house and Brenda has the same job), but really, a full sheet of paper needs more than that. Here are some of the fun things and big events from 2008.

Ally is 5 ½ years old. She is now in kindergarten and is excelling in school. She is very talented at a lot of different things, She tried out T-ball this summer. She enjoyed it and definitely got better as the season went on, but she is definitely more skilled at artsy stuff and things that involve her imagination. Ally loves Jesus and is learning to love others too. She can’t wait for the baby to come and really hopes it is a girl. She is such a joy and a blessing.

Drew just turned 4. He didn’t make the cut off for the pre-K class so he is doing the ‘early childhood’ class AGAIN. It’s a good thing he loves his teachers (and they love him). Drew is a ‘mentor’ to a younger student. That makes me laugh every time I think about it. He loves to spell his name, is very good at baseball, and can color circles around anyone who wants to take him on. Drew is also very excited about the baby, but he wants a boy and wants to name it ‘Dumpster.’ He’s not looking forward to sharing his toys.

Brenda is 23 or so weeks pregnant and due in early April. She has had much more morning (or afternoon or evening) sickness with this pregnancy than the other two. (Maybe that means that this baby won’t throw up as much as the others!!!) She is teaching 8th grade math at Clear Creek Amana and is sad that when the middle school moves to a different location next year that she won’t be in the same building as Ally and Drew. In addition to all she does for our family, she has also worked right along side me through several projects this year including finishing our basement and helping build several things the reconstruction of our church. We were also able to work together for several long days of sandbagging and evacuating the church as the flood waters rose. It’s been a real blessing to serve with her.

As our church flooded in Iowa City the night of June 12 (Thursday), Cedar Rapids was experiencing historical flooding from a completely different river system. That night, Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids evacuated almost 200 patients as the flooding overtook almost 200,000 square feet and two floors of the hospital. I got a call from Mercy on June 18th to come and help with the rebuilding process. All of the damaged area of the hospital was rebuilt in 100 days and I have been able to stay at Mercy and work as a project manager on all of the other projects they have going on.

We have seen God turn each trial this year into a blessing in our lives and the lives around us. HE has encouraged us and given us more faith and strengthened our trust in Him each step along the way. Our prayer for you this season is that you get to see the graciousness and goodness of God as we have.

Have a VERY Merry Christmas.

Jason, Brenda, Ally, Drew, (and Hammie) Willis

26 1/2 wks

Wow the year has come to an end and I can definitely say that 2008 has been a year to remember. I worked hard to finish up almost everything for 2008 blogwise! I can't wait to see what God has for us - the highlight will be meeting our next little one early this year!

We visited the doctor a couple weeks ago and found out that it looks like we are "growing a moose" according to the dr. I am measuring 3 cm bigger than I should be at this point. So what does that mean - it is looking like another healthy-sized baby. Hopefully a little early too for momma's comfort!

Easy Bake

Thank you Allison and Jared for our new Easy Bake Oven. We have made two vanilla cakes and a chocolate cake. I have never made anything that only ingredient is 1 1/2 tsp of water. She has thoroughly enjoyed it and it isn't as bad as I thought!

We had a guy come out and clean our furnace and when he saw us - he couldn't believe that they stilled made those. He said that his daughter had one.

Anyone know what cooks the cake that doesn't taste too bad? A 100 watt light bulb.

Willis Christmas

We postponed our trip to Jason's parents until Sunday after another ice storm. We had had enough of the weather. We enjoyed a safe day in our house cleaning and regrouping.

We enjoyed a quick trip to Aplington. The kids got to go out and sled since they had more snow than us and the temperatures were finally reasonable! I have yet to attempt to sled with my ever growing belly. Who knows if I could get up out of the snow at the bottom of the hill? Some more Casey's pizza made our trip complete!

Family Bowling

What could be more fun than bowling with your family? Well actually getting to bowl, I sat out. I thought it best to not test my luck with the back pain and pregnancy. I watched everyone else bowl and helped chase Lauryn. She is faster than me. This might have been the first time that the kids remember bowling. They had so much fun.

Ally bowling.

Drew bowling.

Kaylee bowling.

Please notice the scores (sorry the first one is blurry). Jason and Drew tied.

Klaassen Christmas

We enjoyed yet another Christmas. Jason and I headed back to IC with hope of him working a half day on Friday and coming back to my parents to open presents. But Christmas night was far from good travel weather. We had been watching the weather closely and found a break in the storm. We headed out (without kids). It was fairly good traveling until half way home when we almost pulled off to stay in the motel - the drive is only 40 miles total! From Williamsburg to IC we went no more than 20 mph. I kept praying and praying and seeing drivers slide right off the road. When he woke up early to go to work, the roads had yet to be cleared so he crawled back into bed.

The weather warmed and we scrapped some of the ice off the driveway before heading back to mom's. By the end of the day most of our 6 inches of snow was gone.

We got back in time to open presents to find out that Grandpa Charlie had a sick calf and was waiting for the vet to come. After everyone got naps - oh how I loved my snuggle bug. Too bad that my belly is so big that I take up much of the couch! We enjoyed lots of presents and laughter. Isn't it funny that everyone sits in the same place year after year when opening stuff?

We had a huge enjoyable Casey pizza supper extravaganza before heading out in the THICK fog to go bowling. Weather just isn't our luck. It was another long trip home for the Willis' in the fog with another ice storm on the way for the next day.

2008 Dumba** Award

Picture it - Christmas Eve. Our kids were in their PJs snuggled in their blankets call "Fuzzies" made by Uncle Arlie a couple years ago. We were headed back to our house to go to bed with hopes that Santa would come during the night. The kids luckily fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting on the interstate and I was close behind them but still trying to stay awake for Jason.

Suddenly about 7 miles from our exit, we came to a halt at 11:00. We had just past an exit that would have gotten us home. There was one police car stopped there, but very little action. Several cars were turning around and going back to the exit - not the safest move in my book, but whatever. One guy even tried to go through the median (which has about 10 inches of snow in it). Even dumber move. But the dumbest move of the night came from a semi-driver from Montana.

After sitting there in PARK for 15 minutes, I called my dad to check the internet for road problems - it was a long shot but I was hopeful. I do miss the traffic reports from STL that most of the time gave you a hint of what was happening. Then I called my Aunt who had kids on the road that should be close to passing us going the other direction. She gave me Christine's phone number who happened to be in IC - 7 miles ahead of us. Chris and I talked the WHOLE time she drove by and guess what she saw.... NOTHING. No police cars, no fire trucks, no accident, no people in the ditch....

We had pulled out the kid's DVD player and were getting out a movie. I think that if I would have let him, Jason would have flipped around and drove BACK to the exit. Just then my dad called and said that he did find that there was something that happened in IC at 8:00 that had shut down the interstate. Okay - it was 11:50 now - is that really the problem? Just as we hung up from him, the traffic started moving - full speed.

We found out in the morning that a semi-driver from Montana decided to do a u-turn in the median (with a ton of snow on it and a mile from the next exit). His truck flipped over which was hit by another semi and then a car. Luckily no one was hurt, but it took over 3 hours to get it cleaned up - stopping the interstate since it blocked both lanes. He got a ticket for improper use of the median.

Jason thinks that officers should have a seperate ticket book for dumba**. They would write you a ticket for something and mark the level of stupidity. This would get the highest level.

We got home before Santa and our kids slept through it all.

Santa Came...

Santa came eating all the cookies, mountain dew and bananas that we left him. The reindeer also got their snack of marshmellows and carrots. He came bringing some of our favorite toys that we asked him for. The kids THANKFULLY slept in on Christmas morning. We got home late from Christmas Eve at my parents due to an accident on the interstate - a post for the end all in itself. Aren't my kids so stinkin' cute? I love to see them so happy. I can only imagine how much joy God gets when He makes us happy. Jason spent the morning putting Drew's race track together before we had to leave. This is really cool and I recommend it also very easy to use.

On a side note: Drew loses more things - hummm I can hear Jason going - just like his momma. We spent 20 minutes before heading back to Victor for the Smith Christmas looking for the boy's shoes. They were under his bed - only if the boys would have looked there first. Then we spent another 10 minutes looking for his sunglasses. What would this world be like without Moms who can find their kids' things????

Worst Christmas Program EVER

Let's just say the ride home from this program was not full of cheer. Drew told me walking into the school that he didn't want to sing, but I thought that it would pass when he got into his classroom with his friends and teachers. It didn't.

He stood on the stage the whole time with this face (he is in the middle). His teachers tried so hard to cheer him up but we never figured out what the problem was. He had practiced all the songs and knew them by heart. They have been the same for the past three years so we had them memorized too! We find him singing all the time, but does get embarassed very easily. We did get his friends singing though!

He wouldn't visit with Santa later, but that doesn't surprise me since it meant that he was the center of attention. His sister would have loved it, but not Drew.



He had to apologize to them the next day which was another ordeal. No apology - meant that he couldn't take his school presents home after the party that day. Yes I am the mean mom, but there was no reason for this behavior - he wasn't sick!