“Hey everybody, see ya later!!”

This evening after Kaleb and I finished mowing the lawn we were visiting with our neighbors, Trent and Elaine, when Kaleb quickly ran for the garage saying, “Daddy, I have to poop.”

Pooping in our house is a big deal right now as we have struggled with potty training #2, so I abruptly ended the conversation and ran after him to help.

After Kaleb did his job, while looking in the toilet, he said, “Oh wow! That’s a biiiig one!”

I praised quite expressively, letting him know how awesome it was that he pooped in the toilet and that he gets a treat. He decided to pass up the M&M’s or a sucker and wait for what he found at Menard’s.

We went to Menard’s and picked up the items we needed and headed for the candy aisle where he decided on Reese’s Pieces. We arrived at the checkouts to find that the three available checkout lines were full so we had to wait in line. Not only were all three lines full, but the front office desk was occupied with about a half dozen Menard’s employees.

As we were patiently waiting in line, Kaleb decided he had an announcement to make to the entire store. In a very emotive voice he said, and I quote verbatim:

“Hey everybody, yisten to me!”

The entire front of the store stopped and immediately turned their attention to this 2 ½ year-old who was demanding their attention as if he were the President.

“I pooped in da toiyet and it was a biiiig one!”

Very rarely do I get embarrassed… I was embarrassed! Immediately, I thought, do I run and hide, or do I laugh with the 30 plus other people who were laughing at my child who was announcing the biiiig news?

He then continued on by holding up his bag of Reese’s Pieces and saying, “I get a treat!”

Five minutes later, after everyone stopped laughing, our cashier suddenly remembered that we need to be checked out. She asked Kaleb for his bag of Reese’s Pieces. He gave it to her, she scanned it and kindly gave it back to him, when he said, “Um, I NEED a bag please!”

Again, in a very emotive voice as if she should have know better than to give him his treat without a bag. After all, your supposed to have your items in a bag before you leave the store, right?

We quickly finished our business and headed towards the exit when he felt the need for one last word.

“Hey everybody, see ya later!!”

Taking Advantage of a Quiet House

Ann, Kaleb and Maggie are in Thief River Falls for a few days visiting grandma and grandpa Gustafson. I'm taking advantage of the quite house and getting a few things done on my never-ending to-do list. One of my tasks is transferring the photographs from our camera to my computer. I thought I would post a few fun photos for you to enjoy.

Uncle Luke, Jessie and Kaleb

Twins Fans

Yotter/Oelslager Wedding

This past weekend we traveled to Wisconsin once again. This time the trip was for my cousin Bailey's wedding. Kaleb was the ring bearer while Harper, the daughter of my cousin Jessica and her husband Mike, was the flower girl. The two of them looked absolutely adorable together all dressed up. The parents were a little stressed, as we wanted them to do what they were supposed to do to make Matt and Bailey's special day as perfect as it could be. They both did a fabulous job considering their age of two and a half. We were so proud!

After the wedding we headed to the Kilkarney Hills Golf Club for the reception. As we waited for the wedding party, Kaleb and Harper tested out the dance floor. By the time the dinner came around, Kaleb had had enough. He had no interest in food, was whiny and very clingy. After he slammed a glass on the table and broke it into several pieces, we knew it was time for him to go. Grandma Barb and Felicia (Luke's girlfriend's mom) were kind enough to come and take him for the remainder of the evening so that Ann and I could enjoy the rest of the night. Thank you, mom and Felicia!

It's always so much fun to get together with family who you don't get to see very often. Even though we don't see each other very often, it feels as if we don't miss a beat.

Just before we started eating, the pastor said a table prayer. As he was praying, I looked across the table at my cousin Tommy's son, Jake. (You have to know that I haven't seen Jake since he was a baby, he now is seven.) As we made eye contact, Jake started making faces at me. I immediately thought, hey, I like this kid. From that time on, Jake was my sidekick for the evening. Man, is he the spitting image of his dad. I'm thankful for my bonding time with Jake, what a precious child he is.

As always, we also had fun spending time with Luke and Jessica. They have a knack for brightening our days. We are so excited for them to be moving to Moorhead to attend Minnesota State University Moorhead in less than a month. We are thankful for Jessica's parents, Randy and Felicia, for all the love and support they have given my family over the past year.

We have to admit we were pretty proud of Kaleb this weekend. He didn't have a single bathroom accident all weekend. Yay! Is it safe to say he is potty-trained?!?!?! Time will tell... Between Ann and Kaleb, we ahad to stop every 20 miles for a potty break on the way home... ok, maybe not that often, but it felt like that anyway.

God bless you, Matt and Bailey. We pray for God's blessing on your marriage and for a long, healthy life full of love, joy and laughter.

Serious Blogging...

Nick has been begging me to write a blog for days and days. It seems like we just don’t stop going long enough to write a blog. Not only that, but I (Ann) recently got a blackberry, so who needs a computer now??

Anyway, as I said, summer has been keeping us busy. We spent Saturday, June 27th in St. Peter, MN at the wedding of Nick’s good friend Eric. It was an absolutely gorgeous outdoor wedding. It was so much fun chatting with friends that we don’t get to see very often. Eric and Carolyn are so neat, and their wedding reflected that. Kaleb, of course, had to poop his pants 5 times that day. We are working on potty training, and as you can tell…#2 is not going so well. We got to see Uncle Matt sing and play with the band at the wedding dance, and that was a wonderful highlight.

I left for the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO on Tuesday, June 30th. It was a serious time of refreshment and revival. God really spoke his love over me, and I feel forever changed. The youth were always a blessing as well. If you are ever in need of some free entertainment, just go on a trip with 6 teenagers. Especially when you need to drive in the car for 10 hours and Jordyn Berger drinks wayyyy too much water! All kidding aside, we all felt blessed and overwhelmed by the power and presence of the living God!

While I was away, Nick decided it was a good time to teach Kaleb how to swim. It is amazing. We have been calling him a fish, so now he says, “I’m a fish!”. Watch the video below to see our little swimmer. (Nick painted the shed in a tank top, check out the "farmers tan" he's got going on!) He really, really adores the pool in the backyard. Between the pool and the “orange park” in our neighborhood, Kaleb is having a blast with summer.

I will be travelling again tomorrow down to Albertville, MN to stay with my cousin Erika and her husband Brian. I will be attending a speech/language conference in Brooklyn Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am really excited to hear the “latest” in the field of SLP. Nick seems to think he could lead one of these workshops. This morning he was saying (and I quote), “Ann, here’s how you say S, sssssssssssssssssssss”…he thinks he is so smart.

Pray for my dad when you think of it. He just headed to Kansas City, MO for 2 weeks of seminary. We are so proud of him and the servant that he is for the Lord. God has placed a calling on his life and we are so moved by his obedience.

God bless you all and Happy belated 4th of July!

Bjornstad/Mager Wedding

Last Saturday we had the privilege of witnessing the marriage Eric Bjornstad and Carolyn Mager. Their wedding was at the Gustavus Adolphis Arboretum in St. Peter, MN. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. The ceremony, reception and dance were perfect.

Matt, Ann’s brother, played in the band with Eric, John and a co-worker of Eric’s during the dance. It was so much fun to have “live” music. The entire day had a touch of Eric’s style, it was quite evident that he helped Carolyn with the plans.

It was so much fun seeing four of my best high school friends, Eric, Derek, John and T-Jay. Even though we don’t see each other often, it’s as if we haven’t missed a beat when we get together.

We wish Eric and Carolyn the best in their marriage and have no doubt they will live a long life together full of love and happiness.

Potty Training

Our family has been spending some serious time in the bathroom these days…potty training. The first few days were pretty rough. We’ve gotten the hang of it, though, and are pretty good with #1. We had our first successes with #2 today. We throw a huge celebration when that happens. Kaleb gets to pick whatever he wants as a reward, which is why Ann and Kaleb were in the freezing cold pool at 7:30 am this morning.

We’ve been graced with the company of Barb (Nick’s mom), Luke (Nick’s brother) and Jess (Luke’s girlfriend). The kids had orientation at MSUM today. They are getting pretty excited to start school, and we are getting pretty excited about having them in town. Kaleb sure thinks they are pretty fun!!

Next weekend we will be down in the metro area for the wedding of Nick’s friend, Eric. It will be nice to spend some more time with Grandma Barb and family.

Farewell...

I write this post with a heavy heart… We are currently on the aircraft on our way home from our wonderful week in Florida. Kaleb is sleeping on one side of me while Ann is trying to sleep on the other side. I just got elbowed and told to move my arm out of her seat (FYI, my arm wasn’t in her seat, it was on my half of the arm rest) and then she proceeded to move half her body into my seat, so now I have about a quarter of a seat to sit on… gee, thanks! We are sad to be leaving family that we love so dearly and that bring so much joy into our lives. Stacy’s husband, Cliff and I have so much in common. I feel as if we are long lost brothers! Thank you Steele’s and Butner’s for the great week. We forever treasure our time spent with you and can’t wait for our next opportunity to be together.

We started Sunday off with worshiping our Lord and Savior. It’s always an honor to be a part of Narcoossee Baptist Church, the church that the Steele family serves. Brother Dave is an amazing man after God’s heart that has a gift for preaching the word and not to mention, a beautiful voice. Cliff, Jane and I all felt that Dave’s message was for Ann. Sometimes God wants us to do things we don’t understand, like moving to Florida. Ann didn’t agree… can you imagine that?

After church, all nine of us piled in the “New Big Red Church Van” (Sarina’s words) and headed to Melbourne Beach. It was our last chance to spend time at the beach. Kaleb was so excited to go, he kept saying, “I go to da beach!”

The ocean was beautifully blue and warm. The rip tide was very strong yesterday with the waves breaking very close to the shore so we didn’t get a chance to boggie board. With the waves breaking so close to shore, it made for a perfect opportunity to search for shells. There were literally thousands of shells within the first ten feet of the ocean. Kaleb didn’t care much about the shells, while every shell that Sarina found was “pretty,” so we went home will all kinds of “treasures.”

The rip current was too strong for Ann and Stacy so they stayed close to shore with the little kids much of the time. The adventurous ones, Cliff, Sam, Savannah and I choose to dive for shells. It was quite interesting with the strong currents. One minute you would be swimming against the currents that were forcing you up and towards the shore and then a few seconds later you would have to swim opposite so that you could overcome the rip current that was forcing you down and pulling you out to sea. It was quite interesting; you just hoped you didn’t get slammed into the ocean floor while scouring for shells.

Stephen tried to skimboard, but didn’t appear to have much luck as the photo will attest to.

It was a great week filled with sun, fun, sun, and more fun and sun. We are so thankful for family and hope they enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them. We love you Dave, Jane, Stacy, Cliff, Stephanie, Stephen, Samuel, Savannah and Sarina, Sarah too even though we didn’t get to see you.

Thank you!