It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Creighton was such a great "helper" this year! I was plugging in/checking the lights when C rolled up in his fire truck and decided to decorate his ride. It was so cute-although he was very close to running over/crushing many of the lights. So far, he has left the tree alone and doesn't seem too interested in it besides his "oooo'ing" at the lights.

Time for an Update...

While in Virginia this weekend, my loving sister-in-law Rachel let me know that my blog was WAY outdated...and did I realize I had not been doing any blogging lately...yes, and yes, I did know that...but thanks Rachel the subtle reminder! I also want to apologize to my poor grandpa Zook, who now thanks to my sister has my (outdated) blog now bookmarked on his computer and has probably been thinking that his computer/bookmark is not working since nothing has changed on here since, oh... July. A few things we have been up to:

* I have started selling Premier Designs Jewelry...mainly because I really like the jewelry and wanted to buy it at a discounted price. I never would have imagined it would keep me this busy and it really has been a blessing in many ways. I have gotten to know many new people through this "business" and it has been lots of fun too!

*School has been going absolutely wonderful this year...of course there are the typical problems, and this year a few not so typical problems but I really do feel blessed to have the class I do and I have really enjoyed my job this year and my class.

*Creighton has a new babysitter this year and loves her! No offense Amanda...(if you read this!) but part of the reason Creighton loves going to the sitter is her 3 year old son Levi. To say Creighton loves to play with Levi would be a huge understatement! It is so fun to watch Creighton grow and change and make friends. Each morning in the car on the way to Amanda's house we talk about the day and Creighton will often say "Evi! Evi!

*Over Thanksgiving we went out to Virginia to visit Rachel and also got to spend a little time with Chad's aunt and uncle, Keith and Linda Gnagey. Creighton LOVES his aunt Rachel and was very heartbroken when we left. A few trip highlights would be: Creighton running from window to window in Rachel's house looking at and talking about the cows, playing Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan with Rachel, visiting Rachel's new property and looking through house/idea books with her, seeing a poor bear smooshed on the interstate, Chad placing his ipod on his lap and then getting out of the car to switch drivers on the PA turnpike...the ipod is no longer with us, giving Rachel's little neighbor kids their Thanksgiving presents from Ohio and watching/hearing about their excitement, and renewed hope and faith that can only come from spending time with Rachel.
Each time we are in VA, Chad and I both find ourselves reflecting on David's life...the reality and the weight of what happened. It would be impossible to not think about the what could have been/should have been when are visiting and see Creighton playing with his aunt....what games would he have played with his uncle David?? What would we have all been doing together??

Where Everybody Knows Your Name....

A little bit of useless news now from Creighton's parents :)

Soon after Creighton was born, I decided to subscribe to Netflix. I thought that it would be worth it, since I would be staying home and spending a lot of inside time w/ little Creighton. In an effort to get Chad "on board," one of the first movies I got was a disc from Cheers, season 6. Chad always talked about how much he loved Cheers, and I thought that I would give it a try. We both loved it and decided we needed to start back at the beginning....Each of the 11 seasons have 4 discs/season. So, over the course of 1 year, Chad and I have watched all 11 seasons, 270 episodes worth of Cheers. (We have also listened to the 'theme' song 270 times, as Chad refused to fast forward that part.) I did find an unopened/never used trivia game on amazon.com that we love too :) So, if anyone wants to borrow the dvds/buff up on your Cheers trivia, just let us know!

Ok...here is a trivia ? for you:

What 3 characters appear in all 270 episodes of Cheers?

Mr. Copycat

Creighton has become quite the little copycat lately. He has started repeating a lot of words that he hears. He doesn't say them on his own yet, but can repeat: cat, night-night, whoa!, fish, out, cheese, and many more. He also can give a mean high five now. :) Last night my mom and I met my sister and her daughter Amelia at the outlets in Angola. While I was having fun shopping, Chad and Creighton headed over to my parents house. Creighton got to hang out with his grandpa Rutter and go on a long lawn mower ride while Chad left to do an estimate on a neighbors house. Creighton loves riding on anything with a motor that goes "vroommmm."

A few weeks ago, Chad's Gnagey Grandparents came over for a visit. Chad had gotten the tractor out to take Creighton for a ride so we got a few really good pictures of Creighton with his dad and his great grandpa. The tractor is actually Grandpa Gnagey's first tractor. Creighton also talked his great uncle Neil into taking him for a spin as well.

Here are a few pictures of Creighton's latest art project...finger painting! He loved it and really got excited about it. After I got him all cleaned up, he dug through his "art" box and found the tubes of paint and really wanted to paint again...maybe later!

Pooping in the tub...and a little clap

Tonight Chad met Chad Grieser in Ft. Wayne to watch a baseball game leaving Creighton and I to entertain each other. I called my mom to see what she was up to and Creighton and I ended up tagging along with her to Defiance to Lowes and then to the mall for a little shopping. Creighton is a pretty big bedtime routine junkie and loves nothing more than to have a bath at 7, pjs and books and then upstairs for a sippy full of milk by 7:30. I was a little concerned that he might crash and burn while shopping until 8, but he did great and loved every minute of it- flirting with the workers at each store.

Typically I give C his bath, get his pajamas on, and then Chad and I both read books with him until Chad takes him upstairs to put him to bed. Knowing that I was going to need to do all of that tonight, and that it was already an hour past his bedtime, I wanted to give him a quick bath and get on with the process. Creighton, still invigorated from his shopping trip was having none of it and was playing in the bathtub...even after I had drained all the water out. I was getting his toothbrush ready at the sink when I heard the dreaded "i'm pooping" grunt. By the time I walked the three steps to the bathtub the damage had already been done. Laying there, in the drained tub was a nice long turd staring back at me. I knew this milestone would come sooner or later- what parent doesn't have a pooping in the bathtub story...but I thought- of all nights!

Eventually, we made it upstairs to the rocking chair in his room for his sippy cup of milk. He was still acting a little on the wound up side, so I started to sing to him his favorite song "Jesus Loves Me" (Neil and Faith got him a book for his birthday that plays the song when you open it) Thankfully he calmed down right away and started drinking his milk. Each time I got done singing the song, Creighton would look up at me, put his cup down and clap for me. This continued until his milk was all done.

Funny how two sweet little hands clapping for a less then perfect rendition of Jesus loves me can melt your heart and put all the stress and craziness of the day to ease.

I have been doing some 'limited' posting to our blog this summer and doing a bit of cheating thanks to Smilebox. I am a list maker so perhaps I would do better making lists of what we have been up to this summer!

Places we have been:

Iowa- visiting friends Dustin and Mindy Hadley and their 3 year old Kaden

Branson MO- spent time with my parents and my dad's side of the family for a Rutter get together on Lake Taneycomo. We put about 2000 miles on during this trip-and once again, Creighton probably complained the least amount of all of us :) We went to Iowa first "on the way" to Branson....which after I finally looked at the atlas, was NOT a direct route as Chad had earlier convinced me...but it was great to see where D&M live. Here is a picture of Creighton eating crab in MO. He loved it!

The Toledo Zoo- I try to take Creighton to the zoo about every other week. He loves riding around in his stroller and checking out the animals. His favorites include: the aquarium, the primates, and also the new Nature's Neighborhood kids area. Here is a picture of both Creighton and the Orangutan eating.

We are also thinking about planning another quick trip before the summer ends...possibly out to VA to see family and friends.

Creighton's Favorite Things and New "Tricks":

words: "dada", "hi", "what's that?","tractor", "mama", "nana" for banana, and he is starting to say a mumbled "outside"

Creighton loves playing outside. He loves his lambs and will dutifully carry do his chores when he goes out to visit them. As soon as he walks into the barn, he heads for the hay pile, grabs and handful and carries it over to their pen, shoves his hand through the gate and feeds them. This continues on until he is bribed or carried out of the barn. Creighton also loves going for rides on the 4 wheeler. The term "out of site, out of mind" does not apply to him when it comes to the atv. If we are outside, Creighton will walk over to the shop and whine at the door until you either distract him with something equally exciting or take him on a ride. He has always loved the 4 wheeler- even when he was very little.

Chad just recently finished Creighton's sandbox- which turned out to be a very large sand area! Chad and Corey Roth worked on digging it w/ a tractor and then when Chad went to buy the sand his wife wanted, it was going to be $300 to fill it! :) Chad put some dirt back into the sandbox before adding forty 50lb bags of the sand I wanted. Needless to say, it was a bit of an adventure, but Creighton LOVES it and loves to play "knock over the sandcastle" with me.

Other Items:

Creighton, having 4 ear infections in 3 months is going to be getting tubes put in his ears July 29. We are hoping that it goes as smoothly as it should and that they work their magic! We feel very blessed that Chad has continued to be very busy with his eavespouting business and he has 2 great guys working for him. I can happily report that I have not thought about school for the past several weeks, but will need to start devoting a little time to school things as the summer continues to fly by! We are also looking forward to this August when our new pastor Steve and his wife Bonnie Heatwole will be coming to Lockport.

I hope all of you have been having a great summer filled with all the things you love.

Iowa/Missouri Vacation

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Sandbox Time

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Creighton Playing

Creighton loves to quickly make everything on his table disappear...today he did that, and then made himself disappear as well. The video is about 1 1/2 minutes long...wait it out and you will be laughing out loud at the end! Enjoy!

Sauder Village

Today we went to Sauder Village- the highlight of the trip being the farm animals and ice cream...which we have both at home but it is always more fun when you pay for it, right :)

Creighton's Birthday

On May 18, Creighton turned 1! He had a farm party at our house with his grandmas/grandpas, aunt/uncle and cousins. We gave Creight his own cake-a pig...which turned out very fitting for him :) Here are a few pictures from his party.

Make a Smilebox photobook

New Postings

I am posting a SmileBox that I made from the pictures of Creighton this weekend, as well as the link to a book I made this weekend called "The ABC's of Creighton's First Year." I just made it on Saturday and already received an email saying it had shipped today!

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDJg2buGbFmyagvbp6dO

David's Memorial

We took Creighton to Lockport yesterday afternoon for a little walk/photo session at David's memorial.

Zoo Trip

My sister and I headed out to the zoo last Sunday...and we took our own little animals with us...(+our husbands) :) The kiddos loved the zoo! Creighton liked the farm animals the best...go figure! He also enjoyed riding in his stroller, having a picnic lunch in the grass, and watching the sea lions swim around.

Easter Lambs

Creighton's lambs have arrived! They are "katahdin" sheep-so they do not grow fleece. We got 2 so they could keep each other company. They are about 12-15 pounds right now. To say Creighton loves his sheep would be an understatement. He spent a lot of time tonight petting them, pulling on them, using them to stand up, grabbing their ears, watching them, etc... and thankfully they didn't seem to mind at all! They will need to be bottle fed for the next 2 weeks or so and they also have started to eat some grains. Chad and I both named one lamb seeing as how Creighton cannot do that quite yet... the little guy is Walter, and the bigger one is Willie. Hmm...now who do you think named their lamb Willie?

Creighton's Trail

As I was home with Creighton this afternoon - ear infection again- I could hear him playing in the dining room and then I heard him go into the office. He likes to play with Chad's filing cabinet and loves when he can sneak in the office and get into the file folders before he gets caught. I came out from the kitchen to chase after him and this trail is what I found.

Easter Trip

For Easter, we headed out to Virginia to see Rachel, the Zook-Barges, and the Gnagey family. Creighton did such a great job traveling...it seems that I stress out about him and worry about how he will do and then he doesn't hardly make a peep the whole trip! We got to Rachel's on Thursday afternoon and took Creighton on a walk by EMU...we passed David's old truck parked along the street- Chad recognized it right away and we later asked Rachel where the guy who she gave his truck to lived..and it was him! We ate supper when Rachel got home from work and after Creight went to bed we played Settlers..I can't remember who won, but I know it was not me! Friday turned out to be an eventful day for Creighton- he started walking! He took his first steps because he wanted to play with Rachel's life sized, realistic looking replica of her Black Lab, Afton. This was so exciting to see! It was also very special because Creighton just loved that dog and it turned out to be very motivating for him to walk to, play with, tackle, etc...!

*We were with Rachel in Baltimore when she bought the dog at a toy store...we had left David for a walk and some lunch downtown and saw this dog on the sidewalk that looked just like Rachel and David's dog Afton...we decided that she HAD to buy the dog...and she did, and the dog sat/laid/stood by David and Rachel's side at the hospital and when David came home. The dog also made the trip back to Ohio with us for David's memorial service and visitation...needless to say, I just loved that Creighton was so excited about the dog!

Rachel and Robyn (her roommate) rent from a family across the road with 3 small children...their mom wasn't feeling well, so the kids came over to play on Friday. We all went for a walk and took the real Afton along. One thing you must know about the neighbors is that they all sound like they live in the deep, deep south. Their accents are just unbelievable! Derek, the oldest loved throwing sticks/limbs into the creek behind Rachel's house for Afton swim and fetch. He told me he "just loved watching Afton swim in the water 'terrible good." We made them a snack and he also loved the grapes "terrible good" :)

Here are some other trip happenings:

Farm animals that Creighton saw/touched/pulled on/laughed at:

cows, pigs, horses, calves, sheep, chickens, roosters, dogs

Farm animals that attacked me:

one mean rooster...literally, flew out of the pen, I got my head down and my shoulder up just in time for him to claw/attack my shoulder/arm and then come back and do it all again

*side note...if you are going to be around roosters:

1. do not show your fear of them-, even if you are deathly afraid of birds...and have just stated this to everyone in the car prior to getting out

2. do not wear puffy vests with fur on the hood...they may think you are a larger version of a rooster...in which case they may want to attack you


New things that Creighton did on the trip:

1. first steps

2. walked across the room

3. mastered "So Big"

4. looked at Chad and said "Da, Da!"

5. looked at Afton out the door and said "hi"...it is up for debate as to if he said "hi" with meaning

6. realized we were sleeping in the same room as him and woke up wanting to play from 12:30-3:00 Fri. night...it actually was really funny/cute...he was working so hard to get us to laugh at him...he pulled out all the tricks (throwing his arms up for us to say "so big" and clap, coughing, so we could cough back, chuckling at himself, etc...until we finally laughed so hard we were crying. We can look back and think this is funny because it was a one time event...the kid sleeps 11+ hours straight every night-if this was occurring on a regular basis, I doubt we would have cracked a smile :)


To wrap things up, the trip was wonderful, we had a great time with Rachel- lots of late night talks, it was fun to see and share meals with other family in VA, and Creighton thoroughly enjoyed himself! Here are some pictures from the trip.

SmileBox Easter Pics

Make a Smilebox photobook

We now have a climber

Creighton learned a lot this week. He has started standing by himself quite well and also learned how to climb the stairs. Time to double check the stairway doors! We are starting to get ready to head out to Virginia to see Rachel over Easter and are planning on leaving sometime Wednesday. We will also hopefully be able to see my mom's sister Elaine and her family as well as Keith and Linda Gnagey and possibly my friend Tonya and her husband Eri. We don't have a lot planned for the trip but have talked about heading to D.C. for the day on Saturday if the weather is going to be nice. We are both really excited about getting back out to Virginia. Hopefully Crieghton won't fight too much with his car seat! We are planning on taking the Wiggles and my laptop for some in car entertainment :)