A Little Spring Break

We took a little trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha on Friday. It is a great zoo. It was a little cold and windy, but we had a great time. Here are some pics of the trip.

There is a nice swamp exhibit with an albino alligator.


The tiger was watching us pretty closely.


Since they don't let you in the cages to pose with the living animals, we found some more cooperative subjects to take pictures with. Like the orangutan...


The rhino was particularly kind in letting us hang on him. This also has a great picture of a gray hoodie monkey. Can you see him?


And Mom and Dad with the gorilla family.

Were in trouble now

It was only a matter of time. Campbell isn't quite crawling, but he has become an expert of the floor breaststroke. Now he is standing up to things and is beginning to explore and chew up what he can find. We lost a couple unsuspecting books and are discovering more and more things that need to be moved.








But who can't love a toothy grin like this!

Pinewood Derby Mania

**Guest Blogger Cole**
I had my second Pinewood Derby on Wednesday, Jan. 27 and raced The Black Knight to some victories. It was a little light, so dad had to tape 75 cents on the back, just to help. I did get some wins in the races. Here is a picture of my car in the lead of the others. I made a win for that one the rest was second or third place. I had a lot of fun even though I didn't win. Then, I had my picture taken with Joshua and Benjamin. At the end, I got my Bear award and bubble gum for good listening.

First Haircut

Here are some pics of Campbell's first haircut and some other random pictures. I know you missed it, so here was the fun. Too bad Grandpa didn't get in on this action. Most shots are courtesy of big brother C.

Kell's New Ears

Kell got his hearing aids about a month and a half ago. And yes, I am really slow about getting things updated on our blog. He is hearing better, and we realized this when he exclaimed that he could hear bubbles when went to the bathroom. Those little sounds we take for granted! We can tell an improvement in some of the words and sounds he makes, and he has been very responsible with this amazing technology.

The hearing aids go behind the ear and there is a tube that feeds into an ear mold that is made to fit in his ear. Kell wanted the bright blue ones, like the picture below.


We convinced him that another color might be best, especially since his buddy has the same kind.
Here is a pic of his new 'ears'.

Christmas in Iowa

Merry Christmas from the spuds in Iowa. We had a wonderful Christmas together playing and having fun. It was little Cam's first Christmas and like all good babies, we was more interested in the boxes than any of the actual gifts. Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. Since you weren't here, we wanted to include a few pics on how things went.


Here is the family with their new Chrismas PJs.


Proof that Santa visited our home.


Abigail's big surprise, a new dollhouse. She loves it.


The kids and their gifts from the wonderful Aunt L!


New stools for the kids to line up to for breakfast.

What, Huh, What'd you say?

Whom of you parents out there haven't ever heard those words from your kids, multiple times during the cours of a day? It happens often enough that it almost becomes second nature to repeat things multiple times. We received a letter from the school that our kindergardener had failed a hearing test. We scheduled a time with an audiologist to determine if it was an anomaly or a real hearing issue. The doctor confirmed what the school found and we were sincerely surprised. Obviously this isn't something that happens everyday, but when you look back on things there were some small clues. He has some speech issues (very minor), which we attributed to learing to speak. He often says the "What, Huh, What'd you say?", at home in the car, and elsewhere. So his hearing loss is mild to moderate at high frequencies, and certain sounds like "s", "f", and others are little more difficult to hear. This week we visit the audiologist to find out the next options, which are likely some type of hearing aids. With all of this, the news was not a concern or major worry since we have some incredible neighbors and friends who have dealt with this for two of their children, and have let us know the next steps, questions to ask and worries to be aware of. If they read this, THANKS, little do you know the comfort that has been! So next time you see our K-man he may be sporting some new supersonic ears! We'll let you all know...