A typical afternoon :)

And.... a three year old!!!

Thank you Nama and PapPap for the stroller!! She finally is getting up on it and using it to "practice" her walking.

She's getting so big!

oh yeah. I have a singer, everyone. I have a singer of a boy ;)!

Man, I love this.

It has been way too long.

Norah turned a year today and I unfortunately introduced her birthday w/ a bang. We went for our year check-up and got four shots plus a finger prick. Poor creature... just the stethoscope to her chest was bad enough... she was ballistic by the time she got her shots.

It turned out (thankfully) to be a lovely day. We were in the grocery store this morning after the drama at the doctor's office to buy some materials for cupcakes. A sweet ole fellow bought both Theo and Norah a cookie from the counter and upon finding out it was her birthday, he handed her a five dollar bill. A complete stranger! So sweet.

A couple of videos:

We got off on an awful start to singing...

Kissies...

That's about it for now... Gotta update soon. Life has been nuts!

Truly -- an unforgettable experience! We left WAY too early... and got there with an hour and 15 minutes to wait for the parade to start. The poor kids were a mess by the time Big Ben came by... so we left shortly after seeing him!

Big Ben and Charlie -- with the mayor in between?!?
















"Defense! Defense!" The crowd chanted!
















This man WALKED the parade - giving hi-fives and waving his towel.
















A very unsure Norah -- but thrilled boys.





















We got this smile shortly before the parade began!
















This mornings conversation over breakfast.

A bit of a backdrop... Theo always calls himself, "Theo Dwight Koerber." I think he believes that Dwight is an extension to our last name. We very often call Isaac "Isaac Dwight Koerber," as it's often he needs to be hollered at ;) Not really -- I suppose we just love the flow of the name.

Well... this morning at breakfast Isaac called Theo "Jacob." His pappap Baldauff calls him Jacob all the time (probably cause he forgets his real name... heehee, just kidding dad!) After telling Isaac and Theo that the reason why papap calls him by that name is a result of my Dad's own Dad calling all the boys in their large family, "Isaac" and "Jacob"... Theo started crying.

Me: Theo? What's wrong?
Theo (in a very whiney voice): I'm NOT Jacob.
Me: I know you aren't Jacob... we are just teasing you and calling you Jacob.
Theo: But I'm Theo Dwight Koerber!
Me: Well, you aren't really Theo Dwight Koerber... you are Theodore Robert Koerber.
Theo: But I'm Theo Dwight Koerber, mommy! I don't like Robert.
Me: We named you Theodore Robert Koerber after my daddy's dad, though... and I LOVE that name.
Theo: How about .... uh.... How about... (imagine long, thoughtful pauses...)

Theodore Koerber.... Roethlisberger -- (really RufflesBURGER)

haha... Isaac and I laughed ourselves silly.

Hopefully Steelers madness will be over here... It's been a really fun ride - but I'm ready to move on ;) Thanks Stillers!!

I get an insanely giddy feeling in my heart every time I think about the Steelers in the SuperBowl!

Isaac and I just had the following conversation.

Isaac, "well, you know mommy, if the Steelers win that big game, then they will have a parade for them."
Me, "yes, they will and we will BE THERE."
Isaac, "when we go, we might get to see Ben Roethlisberger and when i see him, i'm going to shout, 'BEN!!'"
Me, "that will be fun, huh?"
Isaac, "he might even see me and throw something to me."
Me, "what would he throw?"
Isaac, "how about a football?"

Sweet.

We have a beautiful and gifted photographer that attends CityReformed (one of three actually, heehee). She captured a "day w/ the Koerbers."

Thought you might enjoy!

www.mchapp.com/slideshows/koerbers/index.html

Love yinsers -- GO STEELERS!

My boys Christmas gift to you.... They decided this morning that their shirts made really cool dancing skirts.

Merry Christmas friends and family! We love you!

This afternoon the boys sat down to a bowl of turkey and wild rice soup at their sweet lil picnic table in our dining room. There were bits of Theo's oatmeal/blueberries at his place setting and he sweetly asked, "Mommy, can you clean this up?" While I picked the morning's breakfast off the table, I asked Theo, "Why don't you just do it?" He said, "I'm not a girl......" Hmmm, could be indicative of how much they see their daddy clean up. Oh yoi.

This afternoon, Theo and I were reading through a Psalm (kiddified, of course) about God making the skies for us.

I paused, sighed and said, "I love God."

Theo paused, sighed and said, "I love God too .... and Barney."

Not sure if he meant Barnabus the cat or the purple dinosaur, I asked him which Barney.

"The dinosaur, mommy, and God," he replied.

a dance party. we have loads of reasons to dance.

"I'm on a roll... oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhhhhh"

Our trip to the zoo today.... The polar bear trap!
















The polar bears put on a LOVELY show for us. The picture does it NO justice.

















We are in the muskrat tunnels.... my dear friend got a good shot!


















Norah and Lena.... girlfriends ;)


















My new favorite picture of the boys.


















We had a lovely day with some friends today at the zoo. I know I've been blogging a lot lately - just trying to get back in gear.

Hope all are well!

CKs Chicken Pot Pie

It's all the rave ;) I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and adapted it to be my own. Here's how I do it -- I was to type this out as an email and thought I'd post it - as it is a family favorite. Isaac asks for it about 3 times a week!

Chicken Pot Pie

preheat oven 425

pillsbury pie crusts (for bottom and top layers)
1 pd chicken breast (I sometimes use a whole Costco chicken)
about a cup of potatoes
4 cups of frozen mixed veggies

--- I boil chicken breast and potatoes together until cooked and then add the frozen veggies to thaw. drain and combine w/ filling mixture:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t celery seed
1 3/4 cups chx broth (can)
2/3 cup milk

--- cook onions in butter until soft. stir in flour, salt, pepper and celry seed. slowly stir chx broth and milk and simmer until thick.
--- place chx mixture over bottom pie crust, pour hot liquid mixture over. cover top w/ pie crust, seal edges and cut the access off (i never have any!) make small slits to allow steam out.
--- bake for 30-35 minutes and then let stand for 10.

Norah's crawling! Side note: turn down the volume... I'm quite annoying ;) Be prepared to deal w/ the obnoxiousness of a doting mother.

Matt's first post - Theo's first story

Well, here is my first post. Appropriately, this is Theo's first story that I have ever heard him tell. This is the what he said tonight at bedtime.

Theo (from the bottom bunk): I wfaght tdoou thdehl agh shctourghy.
Daddy: Theo, take your pacify out of your mouth.
Theo: [pop], I want to tell a story too.
Daddy: Ok

Theo: The little boy and the little bwather went for a walk in the woods. And they saw a tdwool.
Isaac (from the top bunk): a doll?
Theo: A troll. And he was big. Big, Big.
Isaac: A giant troll!
Theo: Then he ate the little boys.
Daddy: [?]
Theo: Then they flew up in the air and went to the door.
Daddy: What?
Theo: Then they saw the troll and he ate them again.
Daddy: Did they go in his belly?
Theo: NO. He put them in his mouth. And then they went down into his belly. And then they flew out.
Daddy: What?
Theo: They flew out of his belly. And they flew out to the door. And on the other side of the door was another one.
Daddy: Another one what?
Theo: A troll.
Daddy: Did he eat them again?
Theo: No, he ate a sandwich. The end.

I'm on a roll! I didn't even wait for an entire month to go by. I've been a terrible blogger these days - and hope to remedy that soon.

We have Andrew, my brother Tom's middle child, staying over night... our first over night guest (besides Eli's middle of the night visit when his brother was born!) The boys (Isaac and Andrew) are up there talking away... about bad and good guys. That followed a conversation about doing really funny things w/ their heads. I wish I had a video camera.

Today is my sweet little brother's birthday! He turns 27 and is about to have his first baby ANY DAY now. We had a lovely time celebrating his day and eating a lot of pizza. He and his lovely wife babysat ALL three of my children giving my husband and I a chance to visit my favorite uncle. I still can't believe they SO willingly took three kids on the verge of having their own... not only did they do it, but man, they did it WELL.

The stars alined perfectly this afternoon and we had the opportunity to get to spend time w/ my dear uncle. Uncle Jim has been really sick for well over a year now and I haven't had the opportunity to see him. I am amazed by the Lord's grace that has been eeking over him and my sweet Aunt Dolly and that home... I love my aunt's honesty about everything going on in her home and heart. I am blessed by knowing these two - truly. Being with them was THE single best way to spend my sabbath afternoon. Thanks for calling me back, Aunt Dolly. I love you guys. Please pray for my uncle... Here's a bit more about where they are.

I am so in love with our church. I love watching people lovin' on one another. I love the order of worship. I love the songs that we sing and HOW much everyone SINGS them. I love the preaching (& I don't just say that 'cause we share the same house.) I love how my children as so loved on and cared for. I love having my parents there every Sunday ;). CRPC has been such a gift!

BathTIME - Norah's finally added to the mix!














Our new favorite toy - the Leapster.














My sweet lil Norah. Do you like her hair Aunt Meggie?!














Norah and moving! Although -- she has mastered crawling just this week - I've not yet got any footage of it.

Sometimes I feel like my heart is gonna burst. I love our church. Just love it.

haha... I just watched that video (yes, I didn't even watch it before I posted it.) Gotta love that Koerber singing, bless their hearts ;)

Here are a couple of additional pictures of our 4 year old's birthday!

The gang:














Rachel and Norah cuddle time:














Hiatt and Norah cuddle time:














Our pinata - yes, I felt a little comfortable bashing his head in with a bat, however, it was worse when the holder broke and we had to hang him by his neck -- which is in process of happening right now.














Pin the hook on the Pirate - designed by Matt: Our sweet cousin Paul!














My boy is growing up. Life is so quickly changing. I don't know if I like it.

Isaac's birthday party! We had a lovely time. He's FOUR. My baby is four. Holy smokes.

T fishing!