Surprise!

mueller baby #3 due in november!

(are you as surprised as we were?)  :)

Kaine's First Easter Program

Last Sunday was Leo's Easter Program.  Wow, what a great program!  Jon Gerst was in charge of it, and he and Amy did such an awesome job.  It brought me to tears more than once!  So anyway, since Kaine is in Sunday school now, he was able to be in the program.  He was so cute!  This video is of the 3 and 4 year olds singing "He's got the Whole World in His Hands."  I hope you enjoy it:)

lemons!

Something funny that we like to do is give our kids (when they're babies) lemons.  It seems kind of mean, but it is so cute to see their expressions!  And they really do seem to like it:)  So anyway, just the other night we gave Halle a lemon at Buffalo Wild Wings, and she was sooo cute.  So I thought I'd post the pictures, as well as Kaine's lemon picture:

This was in Florida when Kaine was about 10 months.  We were with Klint and Sarah and we all laughed about this soooo hard!  We got a great video of it, too, but I'm not sure where it's at, so the picture will have to do.

And here is Halle's lemon pictures, taken a few days ago.  She was hilarious!  She is soooo full of expression all the time, and I think the lemon just multiplied it:)

So there you have it.  The things we make our babies do for a laugh:)  

halle's party

Okay, here is the long-awaited, much anticipated birthday party post!  No, just kidding, but it was a pretty good party:)  So I cannot believe that Halle is already 1!  Wow, I know I said it before, but that was a FAST year!  I think the years are  going to keep getting faster, too, as our kids get older.  Kinda sad:(  

First of all, I just want to mention the new picture at the top of the blog.  That is Halle in her adorable new jean jacket that Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jan gave her.  I think she looks sooooo cute in it, but I also think she looks like she is some kind of model, modeling the jacket in that picture!  She kind of has this come-hither (for lack of a better word) look on her face.  But even though, I still love the picture:)   I just wanted to mention that.

Well, this is me.  Nathan wanted to take a picture of me putting the finishing touches on Halle's cake.  (see next picture)

Here is Halle's butterfly cake!  It was really fun to make, especially because I had help from my wonderful sis, Jill:)  Thanks for helping, Jill!  I had a good time!

The setup in Mom and Dad's basement (thanks for having the party, mom and dad!)

Some pre-party fun!  Halle was having fun with Nathan before the party.

Halle is eagerly eyeing her cake...

mmm...she likes it!

Kaine decided to help her, so he shoved her other hand into the cake and then began to lick it!  It was too funny!

Halle's mean daddy, trying to tickle her forehead :)

halle was really loving that cake!

Then my dad put Kaine's face in the cake:)

Our sweet little girl

Here are some pictures of Halle opening her presents.  She got a little doll...

some cute sunglasses...

(and Kaine got some, too)

Halle was having fun!

She got a Minnie Mouse plate...

A high chair, pack n play, and carseat for her doll...so cute!

Once again, Happy Birthday Halle!  We love you so much!

Halle!

Happy birthday, Halle!  Well, I am slacking a little bit, because Halle's birthday was actually yesterday--oops.  So yesterday my sweet Halle Rae turned 1!  I cannot believe she is already 1--this year went super fast.  We had a party for her on Monday night, and one of these days I will post pictures of that!  

Happy Birthday, Halle!  We love you and you are such a joy in our lives!

mom morning at stefanie's

Well, yesterday Stef Beer was very hospitable and had a bunch of moms and kids over in the morning.  It was great to get together to talk and let our kids play--it is sooo cute to see them interact together!  I wish I had gotten a picture of all the kids who were there, but I didn't.  But I did get a few cute ones:

This is Halle and her friend Violet Gerber (Andrew and Natalie's little girl).  Halle is about a week and a half older than Violet, and it is really cute to see them together!  I'm not sure what was going on here, but it looks like Violet is sucking on Halle's finger:)

Poor Kaine was the oldest kid there!  There were some other little boys (Gavin Beer, Jack Wiegand, and Zion Bertsch) but those boys are all quite a bit younger than Kaine.  So this was Kaine for some of the morning.  Just watching the rain and eating his goldfish crackers:)

After awhile, though, he and Gavin warmed up to each other and they were hanging out:)

Stef, I don't know if you read my blog or not, but if you are reading this:  thank you!  It was great to catch up with Leo moms:)

weekend retreat at pokagen

This past weekend we went on the annual Gateway retreat to Pokagen State Park.  We stayed at Potowatami Inn, and our kids had so much fun!  They both LOVED swimming!  We are so appreciative of Gateway for making this weekend possible--it was great.  Having 2 little kids in a hotel room isn't all that relaxing, but it was still worth it to see how much fun they had:)

A big part of the pool was 3 ft. deep, and Kaine thought it was sooo cool that he could walk around in it!  That was a first--he normally has to be carried by an adult.

I love this picture of Nathan and Kaine!

Halle and Grandpa Dave.  This picture was taken after 9:00 one night, way after Halle should have been in bed!  I was just planning to take her to the pool to watch Kaine swim for a few minutes before putting her to bed, but she couldn't stand it--she was practically lunging for the pool!  So we decided to let her swim for awhile and she did great for it being so late!

A picture of the little cutie in her cute swimsuit:)

She loved the little boat!

Halle was sooo sweet when she got out of the pool!  She sat on Mom M's lap for a long time, just wrapped up so tight.

Here is my man with his flippers:)  

Halle with a mohawk!

Well, Kaine was obviously getting worn out on this trip!  We went out to eat with Dave and Terri on Monday night, and as we walked into the restaurant Kaine told me that he was really tired.  So I had him sit on my lap and he was asleep within seconds!  It was so strange for him, he usually LOVES eating at restaurants!  So we made him a bed on the floor, right by our table.  It was so sweet, although I'm sure it looked a little strange!