Trip to the zoo.....October 5th, 2008

On October 5th, we decided it was time to take Kale to the zoo. We went to the Sedgwick Co zoo in Wichita. We had a great time and it turned out to be a nice day for it........except for the major winds! O well still had a good time. Kale tried to name all the animals but they all seemed to be "dog's'' or ''kitty's'' to him! He really enjoyed watching the Gorilla's and the giraffe's play. We were there to watch feeding time so it was fun for him to see them all up moving around. Towards the end he was getting tired. This picture he was leaning up against Erin resting while watching some of the animals!

Halloween

Kale, Erin and I had a great Halloween. Kale was Superman and Erin dressed up as Clark Kent it was really cute. Here are a few pics! We trick-or-treated to the family's houses, then to the neighbors. We then went to the first College basketball game at 7. Kale loves to watch the games and they even had a costume contest at 1/2 time. He actually won the contest! I wish I could have gotten better pictures but I didn't have my good camera with me so they are fuzzy since he was so far away. Erin and Kale went out there and stood in the middle of the basketball court for the contest, Kale just loved all the noise and attention for him. He waved and blew kisses to the crowd so of course they all had to cheer for him!



Kale posing with his pumpkin at Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling's house!

This is Kale and Skyler together in line waiting to go into trick-or-treat at Erin's office. There were hundreds of kids that went through. Kale had a great time checking out all the other kids costumes and picking the candy out of their boxes.

Here is Kale and I at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Kale really wasn't in the mood to sit with mom!!!

Grandpa got out the remote controlled Hummer to run over Superman but of course Superman was stronger! This is Kale chasing the car down the sidewalk and dad chasing them both!

Superman flying with Dad!

Grandma Dreiling dressed up as a girl with orange hair! This is Kale and her at the basketball game on Halloween night!

3rd Weekend of October

The weekend has been a good one! Friday evening Kale went up to Grandma and Grandpa Dreilings house to pay with Marisa and carve pumpkins. The went to the store and picked out some good ones to take home. Each of the kids got to pick out two pumpkins. Then back at the house Grandma had bought some fun toys for the kids to play with, they were toys shaped like the Mr. Potato Head cut outs. The stuck into the pumpkins to make faces with out the mess of carving!

Saturday and Sunday Erin worked at his Swap Meet at the Fairgrounds. The Swap meet had lots of vendors and car people selling all types of car related items. Some of the vendors had old car parts, or even cars to sell. Others had improvement items for the vehicles. Erin set up his Amsoil booth to meet people and talk with them about using the products. He meet some great contacts and even signed up a few new accounts. My dad came down for a few hours today to help him out and talk with a few people about the products as well! Sorry for no pics but I kept forgetting to take the camera when Kale and I went to visit the booth!

Today is Erin's dad's b-day! Happy Birthday! We didn't get to do anything today but plan to have a dinner later in the week to celebrate!

Today is also my parents anniversary! Happy Anniversary! Dad came down to Hutch to help Erin out with the booth but Mom was not able to come due to being sick! Not much of an anniversary for them today, but maybe when she starts feeling better!

We are busy trying to think of things to do for Kale's 1st Birthday party! It has come so quickly! I have the invitations done but that is about it! Not sure on a theme yet but probably going to be super hero's or cars! I will let you know when we figure it out!

The Last Few Weeks

Well in the last few weeks we have been staying busy! So for the delay in reporting!!

Kale is growing up so fast! We are starting to plan his 1st birthday party we didn't expect it to come so quickly! He is walking now, farther and farther each day! I have a few videos but our computer has been acting up so as soon as I get them uploaded I will be sure to post them.

We went to the zoo for the first time a few weeks ago, Kale had a lot of fun checking out all the animals and feeding the fish and ducks in the pond. We tried to teach him the names of the animals but he just kept pointing to them and saying, "dog", o well close enough!

Last weekend we got to go back to Topeka to see my family for a while. We had alot of fun staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house! They have fun playing with him outside, although this time we forgot the bug spray and he got a lot of bug bites! Oops! Kale also got to see Great Grandma Smith, and Great Grandma Swanson, along with 2nd cousins, Sheri and Allen, and Great Uncle Larry. We had a great time although we wish we could have spent more time up there!

I took Kale on a little photo shot around Hutchinson about 2 weeks ago and got some really great pics! Most of them were taken at Carey Park but a few were taken at an old train station south of Main Street. I will be posting them soon also!

We have finally picked out a Halloween costume for him, we won't tell you want it is yet, but we will say that it has no feet or hat!! Those didn't seem to work out!

This weekend we stayed in town. Starting yesterday the roofers came and tore off our old roof and started putting the new shingles up. The were here bright and early this morning but got the entire house reroofed by noon! It looks great and we are happy to have it done finally!

This evening we went to a 25th Wedding Anniversary party for Debra and Alex Lizalde (Erin's Sisters Mother- and Father-in-law) It was a lot of fun and they had GREAT food! We had a lot of fun watching all the little kids play together! Kale was very worn out after a few hours so we decided to come home early. Well that is about all for now I will try and most more often in the future!

Love, Erin Steph and Kale!

Teeth

Short post today but just wanted to let everyone know that Kale has his first two teeth. We found them this morning when Kale started chewing on Erin's nose! :) They are not the typical first teeth though, they are on the top and they are not the front two teeth they are the ones beside them! So I will try and get pics but at this point he won't let us get a pic!

Halloween is coming up so Erin and I thought he would make cute vampire with those teeth showing!! More updates to come!

State Fair, Friends, and Fun

Well this week has sure been a soggy one! We didn't get near the rain that our close neighbors Wichita got but it rained off and on all week. The weather has sure been funny lately! It has been unseasonable cool the last few weeks. Kales is running out of clothes! We had to go and buy a few new pairs of pants and long sleeve shirts since he didn't have any in the correct size!

We have been to the State Fair a few times since its beginning. Kale really enjoys watching the animals and crazy people! We plan to go again tomorrow and walk around since it is the last day.

Mindy, Lacey, and Cathy came down today (my college roommates) and we spent the day together! We had a lot of fun today catching up on old times! Mindy works in Radiology at the Newton Hospital and is loving it there. Cathy is working at the Bank in Lindsborg, and Lacey is still working at the bank in Manhattan. Everyone is doing well and enjoyed spending a little time catching up! So until next time!

State Fair

Erin and I both took vacation days today to enjoy spending sometime together! We started the morning out right.....with a great breakfast! We went to Yoder and ate at the Carriage Crossing restaurant with Judy, Larry, Shirley, and Don. We had a great time and were very happy to get the chance to see them before they left town. (Sorry I forgot my camera though for the first time in my life, so no pic's)

After that we took Kale to daycare for a few hours while Erin and I worked the HCC booth at the State Fair. We had a lot of fun talking and meeting with the people interested in the college. (This is something that I do each year and really enjoy doing! It gives me the chance to be out of the office for a while also!)

After our shift was over we went and got Kale from the daycare and went back to the fair. We walked around for a few hours going through the buildings and most of the outdoor exhibits also. Erin and I enjoyed many of the wonderfully fattening foods of the fair, and Kale really seemed to enjoy walking around and watching all the people!

Life as we know it!

Well things are going well around our house! Kale is doing well he is crawling all over the place and enjoying his freedom to crawl! We often leave him in the living room to play and turn around to find him gone, he loves to hide behind the chairs or crawl around the corner! We also have to be careful to not let him get into the dog dishes. He has only tried to eat the food once but has dumped out the water bowl numerous times to bang on the floor! :)

We have also been enjoying the lovely evenings outside. Kale played with Erin mowed the other night. Grandma Smith bought him a stand up play box. It has one side for water and the other for sand. We don't actually have any sand it in yet but Kale loves the side with the water! He spends more time splashing in that than playing with the little toys! However, as you can see he loves to pick up the castle and throw it around!

Erin is keeping busy at work catching the bad guys! He received another Gold Star this week for his efforts with the company! The Gold Star is a great award given from his boss along with other corporate employees! This is his second award in only a few months!

I am staying VERY busy at work right now with school starting up next week! Kids love to wait until the last minute and that sends them flooding into our office! I have two employees that work underneath me, one full time and one part time. The full time employee was gone a few days this week and will be gone for two months starting on Monday so that is really keeping me super busy, trying to pick up the slack! Voicemail is impossible to get called back and emails just flood in. On Tuesday I called back 40 voice mails in two hours! Only to finish to find 60 more! Its a never end loop!

Living Stairs

Here are a few pictures of the front room! I will add more pictures of the basement later!






Sitting on the couch looking North









Standing in the hallway looking east, dining room table on the right couch on the left.









Looking south from the front door.

Lighting!

wooo hooo We have lights! Last night Erin's dad came over to help him finish up the lights in the basement! They got everything done....with a little help from Kale! As you can see in the pictures Erin and Kale like to watch Grandpa do the work!! Kale is very good at paying attention to all the noises and sounds the guys make while working!

Tonight Erin is going to be out playing pool with the guys so Kale and I are going to get to work around the basement trying to touch up the trim and fix all the little blemishes the carpet layers made when they stretched the carpet out! So maybe tonight I will get the pics of the basement taken and posted for everyone!

In the last picture here you can see our new lights above Erin's head! There are 3 of these and then 1 round light above the area where the poker table will be. Kale had his work'n pants on while down in the basement and they were constantly falling off. So in this pic Erin is trying to pull his pants back up so he could crawl around again!

Household Update

Well things are going well around the house. We have the carpet complete, the furniture in and the lights are almost done in the basement! Last night Erin got the TV hooked back up in the living room and the furniture moved around where it will stay. It is being able to unpack so we can find things again!! Kale loves to play in our storage containers! As you can see here he has fun peeking over the top to see what is going on!

Kale is just crawling all over the place now! He has a lot of fun moving around and getting into things. He is always willing to help when he can get over to you! That past few nights he has been more irritable than usual we assume he is starting to teeth a little bit. Hopefully it will be a quick process if that is what it is!

House

Well the carpet layers finished up our floors yesterday! Woo Hoooo! We are very happy to have all of our carpet in, but now we have to go back and touch up all the little blemishes that the carpet stretcher made on the trim! O well!

We also didn't take into consideration the smell the carpet would have! Yuck! So we will be staying at Erin's parents house for a few days while the house airs out. The carpet guys said Kale should not crawl on the new carpet either for at least a short amount of time. The furniture will be delivered on Monday so hopefully by then we can be back home and getting things in order!

Hopefully we will uncover the computer at home soon and I can get some pictures uploaded! Until then I will keep updating things from work!

He crawls!

Well Kale started crawling tonight! I was very exciting....he just decided I going to do it and he was gone! I have some videos but they are not uploaded to YouTube yet....they should be showing up any min. (I have done my part). You can just go to YouTube and then search Kale Jaob Dreiling and you can see 3 videos of him crawling.....

No Surgery!

Well I avoided surgery! woo hooo! I showed no signs of having cronic infections so the Dr. let me keep my gall bladder! I am back to work now and regaining my energy! Hopefully we won't have to go through that again!

Kale is recouping slowly from vacation but getting worn out again playing with Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling. Since Grandpa was on vacation this week they wanted Kale to come up and play during the day instead of going to daycare. Since they already babysit Marisa they have both kids all week. It is really keeping them on their toes but they are enjoying it! Kale and Marisa have gotten to go and play in the fountains at the water park, walk around Dillon Nature Center and walk to mall countless times, along with playing with all the neat toys at their house.

I haven't had a chance to upload any new pics lately cause we are trying to catch up on everything around the house from vacation. We are getting our carpet laid on thursday next week. So that means we have to have all the "stuff" around the house picked up and out of the way for them to work! Yikes! Kale is still not crawling but very close. We lowered his crib last night though cause he kept standing himself up and hanging over the edge!

Update on Stephanie

Well for anyone who I haven't talked to since our return I just wanted to let everyone know I am still in the hospital but I am starting to feel better slowly! For anyone who doesn't know what was going on here is what happened.

I started to have some pain in my side on Thursday. I just assumed I had ate something that wasn't agreeing and with all the walking we had done, figured it would go away after getting off my feet. The pain didn't go away and was starting to affect my appetite. Sunday night we ended up leaving the final dinner a little early to get on the road a little faster. The pain only started to worsen. Due to being in the car I am sure it didn't help but we drove on to get home as quickly as we could to get home. We pulled into Topeka about 4:40 PM on Sunday and Erin and I decided to get all the way to Hutchinson so I could sleep in my own bed Sunday night. We got into Hutchinson about 8:30 PM and by 9:30 PM decided to head into the ER and get checked out. I was not sure what was wrong but thought maybe it was appendicitis or something like it. After getting checked in the Dr.'s ruled out Appendicitis but found the pain could be caused by my gall bladder. I ended up being moved out the ER and into a room about 3:30 AM Monday morning. Erin and I finally got to bed about 4:30 this AM. After waiting all day for the Nuclear Medicine appointment today to get one final scan I am finally able to have a liquid diet for the evening. I will be staying here again tonight and see a surgeon tomorrow to find out if they are going to remove my gall bladder or if they are just going to treat the inflammation (and possible infection) with antibiotics.

Kale stayed with his Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling last night and during the day today. Erin will be staying at home with this this evening then they will watch him during the day tomorrow, while Erin goes back to work.

If any surgery is going to be done I will keep everyone updated but it will be Wednesday if at all.

Steph

PS I will try and get the vacation stuff up one of these days!!!

Oops!

Sorry guys I have not gotten our trip stuff updated! I hope to get that done very soon! We are having a great time up here! Kale is seen some cool things and gotten to stay up past his bed time almost every night!!! We will be heading part way tomorrow night then the rest of the way to Topeka on Sunday. Then on Monday we will drive to Hutchinson.

Packing!!

Well we are almost done packing for vacation.....as much as we will do tonight at least! It is really hard packing for the first long vacation with a baby! You never think you have enough. At this point I am not sure if we will all fit in the car with all of Kales things!

Our itinerary includes:
Monday:
Drive to Topeka and stay the night with my (Steph's) parents
Tuesday:
Be in KC at Children's Mercy by 8:30 AM for Kales Dr. AppointmentsLeave from KC and head towards Clear Lake, Iowa (stay for the night)
Wednesday:
Leave from Iowa and head to Superior arrive early afternoon and spend the day sightseeing Mom and Dad have a dinner to attend at the Amsoil Conference but we are free the first night
Thursday:
Check-in at Conference by 1:30 attend meetings until 5...spend rest of day sightseeing
Friday:
Tour Amsoil plant
Saturday:
Attend final meeting and dinner
Start home about 8 or 9 PM
Spend night somewhere about half way.
Sunday:
Arrive in Topeka and drop off Steph's parents and then head back towards Hutchinson

We are very excited to go and hope that Kale enjoys it! Check back throughout the week I am going to try and update this as we go along so I don't leave anything out!

More Weekend Events!

Yesterday (July 5th) was also a fun and busy day for us! Kales Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Dreiling celebrated their 60th Wedding anniversary! We loaded up the car and took off for Hays about 8:15 AM. We arrived just in time for the party to start! We had a great time seeing everyone! Many people Kale was meeting for the first time! He did very well with everyone around. At first he was a little timid about going to others but after he warmed up to the situation he was passed around to everyone with no objections!

When we got back into Hutch, we went and visited one of Kales other Great Grandmas. Great Grandma Fischer has been having some pain in her back so we went to help cheer her up! Great Grandma really enjoyed seeing him for a little while, and Kale liked to play with all the new things in her room!

Today has been a day of relaxation for Kale and a day to catch up with the house cleaning for Erin and I! Kale was really worn out from the weekend events because he has slept quite a bit today! Erin and I did alot of laundry to help get ready for our vacation next week, and even got grass planted and the rest of the yard mowed!

We had a nice visit from Monica and Marisa today, they were on the way to the store to do a little shopping! Now our day is winding down but Kale is fighting sleep so Erin is rocking with him to see if he can finally get him to fall asleep for the night!

Forth of July Weekend

We had a very busy and entertaining weekend this 4th of July! We started it off by lighting off some fireworks of our own on the 2nd. We wanted to make sure Kale was comfortable being around the noise before we took him out the rest of the week! Erin and I took turns shooting off our fireworks and to our surprise Kale loved them all! Kale stayed up until about 9:30 PM watching our fireworks and also everyone around us.

On the 3rd we went to Bill's house (Stephanie's Co-Worker) north of town to eat dinner and shoot off more fireworks! Bill had lots of fireworks to shoot, they started shortly before dark with the smaller ones and the non-nighttime fireworks. Then at dark they started with the huge ones! Kale was very entertained with the lights and colors. He jumped a few times when there was a loud boom but never cried! The large fireworks went off for about 30 min and Kale watched all but about the last 7 or 8 min. He even slept through 750 Saturn missles going off!!! Once he was asleep there was nothing that could wake him up!

On the morning of the 4th Erin, Kale and I went for a walk down main street to kick off the parade and daily HutchFest activities. To our surprise the huge crowd that we had expected to join the walk was very small! We ended up being one of the last few to cross the finish line since everyone else was running or biking! Then we stuck around to watch the parade. We found Monica, Michael and Marisa along the way and sat with them for the parade! To our surprise the parade lasted for 2 hours!!!

The afternoon of the 4th Monica, Marisa, Erin, Kale and I went for a swim at the Salt City Splash pool! We had alot of fun watching and playing with the kids in the water! Marisa really liked the water and had great fun playing with Kale and his toys!

After Kale took a long nap! (much needed after his busy day) We went out side to watch more fireworks. Kale watched them for a while but was not near as close as we were to them at Bill's house so he was distracted by everything else around him. We went to the corner of 17th and Plum to watch the fireworks at the fairgrounds. Again Kale watched part of the show and fell asleep!

Video's

It seems some people are having trouble viewing the videos. If you would like to see any of Kale's movies you can also view them at www.youtube.com Once on the website search for Kale Jacob Dreiling and all of his videos will show up! Sometimes you have to click play more than once but just note I do not remove the videos so if the error message pops up just go out and back it to view the movie!