Fall Follies...a tad bit late!

October was a jam packed month for us in the Krelle household. The bright beautiful colors of fall, the cooling down of the weather and upcoming holidays bring so much excitement. Some of the things that have kept us busy are: Oriental Trading Company's Hay rack Ride for Product Design Team, Fontnell Forest, Pooley's Pumpkin Patch, Nebraska City, Our Halloween Spook House, and Bill's (Eric's Dad) Birthday.

Some highlights from those trips include:

• At Fontnell Forest Tatum and her friends had fun seeing furry caterpillars and screaming "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" over and over again from a hut. They thought they were quite funny.
  

• At Pooley's "Tatum got her face painted, petted some cute baby chicks and rode a pony for the first time. Thankfully she hasn't asked Mommy and Daddy to buy her one!
  

• Nebraska City is our annual fall trip with the Krelle's. We had a picknick, walked on many tree trails and collected leaves, and we went to Arbor Lodge, where Eric and I got married at.
  

• Halloween was also quite a day in itself. Tatum and I went up to Eric's work to see all the costumes. Eric participated in the company wide costume contest with his department. They put on an "infomercial" called "The Songs in Barry Gibbs Head". Eric was Barry Gibb and some of the others were Kid Rock, Cindi Lauper, The Andrew's Sisters and MC Hammer. They won 2nd place!
  

• Tatum Dressed up as a butterfly and Grandma Sherman took her trick-or-treating while Eric and I manned our annual Spook House. We had a record turn out of 110 this year, which is great.
  

• The 2nd leg of the night included getting ready for a Halloween Party at one of Eric's co-workers house. Our house was a buzz with Alisa, Brian and some friends getting ready to go out here in Omaha, so it was crazy and festive. I was a pregnant Geisha Girl and Eric was a Marine. We had a great time at the party.

• Eric, Tatum and I rounded out the "fall fun" by attending Vinyard Church's Annual Fall Festival. It was lots of fun to go out and be part of the fun. Eric has been attending a mens group there for a good part of the year. We got to play in the bounce house, sit by a warm bonfire, and go on many hay rack rides. Tatum really liked swinging in a hammock there.
  

I have included many pictures...I hope it's not an overload but it has been such fun!

Pregnancy Update

I am pleased to let you all know that my pregnancy is going well. I am 18 weeks now for those keeping track. I am still experiencing the nausea/vomiting. I had about 5 days in a row with no incidences and I was hoping I was done, but then it hit me again. I was hoping that I was done, but that's ok...I am tough so I can take it :)

I have continued to loose wight, due to the nausea, so at my last appointment I asked some questions about that. They assured me that if there was a need to worry they would let me know. To ease my mind the Midwife felt my tummy to see how the baby is growing. She exclaimed "This baby is having no problems growing...I think it's just one baby though...for now". I let her know "oh we had an ultrasound already, so we know it's just one". In the back of my mind I was thinking oh great, this is going to be a behemoth baby to push out!

After sitting on the thought for awhile I decided to google early ultrasound twin pregnancy. I was quite surprised at the amount of message boards that talked about not seeing a second baby until a later ultrasound. While I do think that the odds of me carrying twins is quite unlikely...wouldn't that be a crazy blessing! So many things would have to change for our family. Eric and I both know that God is in control and would help make any necessary provisions for our family as He has done time and time before.

Our next ultrasound is on November 17th, so we'll keep you posted. Pray for a healthy baby... or two, and no placenta previa.

Saying Goodbye to Summer...Hello Fall!

As many of you know Eric and I are thrilled to be adding to our family. I am due with baby #2 in March. Just like we did with Tatum, we plan on waiting till this baby is born to find out the sex. We had an ultra sound back in July and were able to see the heart beating. Since then we have heard the hear beating at a visit to the Midwives as well. It is a blessing to know that all is going well so far.

Many of you have asked what Tatum thinks about being a big sister. Here is what I can tell you. First of all I am not sure if she really understands what it all means. From her two year old perspective here is what she seems to know. If I ask her "Tatum what can you say?" she replies "Mommy's having a baby!" When I ask her "Where is Mommy's baby?" she says "In Mommy's tummy." When you ask her "Who made the baby?" She says "God makes the baby!" It is pretty cute and I am pleased with her response. She will randomly come up and kiss my tummy and say "I kissed the baby!" She is going to be a great big sister.

There is one phrase that she has picked up that I wish she hadn't. It goes like this..."Mommy's not sick, Mommy's preg-a-net". She has such compassion in her that when I gag/get sick, which is often, she cries and I have to tell her that it's ok, Mommy's not sick Mommy's pregnant. This is a new pregnancy symptom for me as I never felt sick while pregnant with Tatum. I will say that I was tired while pregnant with her. My energy level this time hasn't suffered. Which is nice because Tatum is a very active little girl.

Other exciting things that have happened are: Tatum is potty trained as of August, we had two crysallis that turned into Monarch butterflies, I have taken over grooming Normandy and she looks great, we have been making homemade apple pies from the tree out back and Eric had a pretty cool day at work today, it was Pirate Day! How fun. We are getting ready to say goodbye to summer, but there is so much to look forward to this fall!

I have some pictures for this post, I just can't upload them right now so check back in a few days.

Jazz On The Green

Jazz On The Green is one of our favorite events to go to in the summertime. I have been meaning to post about it so here it goes.

We go with my parents who have a really fun group of friends that they meet up with. They, meaning Bob and Carl, start getting ready by putting up a tent and setting tables up for the feast of food that will be brought. Each week there is a theme for the types of food that should be brought. Some past examples are: Carnival Food, Comfort Food, Mexican, Cajun, Hawaiian and so on. Let me say there is never a shortage of good food!

Tatum really likes this tradition so far. We pack up her tambourine and jingle bell shakers so she can play along. Some of this years highlights have been: Going up to the front to get beads, sitting up on Mommy's sholders, eating peaches from Grandma and Grandpa Sherman, getting flower leis from Oriental Trading Company (or favorite company around), playing in a puddle of water and getting licked in the face by a Great Dane.

All American 4th!

Well the 4th of July was a great day for us in the Krelle household. We started of the day just waking up whenever, which was nice. We took the morning kind of easy. Eric had some getting ready to do for the Ralston Parade. His group was participating in it this year, which has become somewhat of a tradition.


My Mom, Tatum and I went to watch. We walked into the area with our friend Rich and his son Gregory, who is a boyscout. It was nice to be able to chat with them before they took their places in the line up. We then headed to a great little spot for us three to watch out for Eric. It was so much fun to take Tatum to see all fun patriotic folly! As you can see in the pictures she really enjoyed herself. I am impressed that she did not get scared of any of the clowns or the noise. She also took the heat pretty well. We left just short of the end of the parade, as I wanted to get Tatum home to make sure she got in her nap. We had a big day ahead of us still.

After her nap ended we, Eric, Tatum and I headed over to my parents house. My Dad cooked up a nice smoked brisket, corn on the cob, cole slaw, garlic bread and beans. Man was it good. Eric commented that he is glad to be part of the Sherman family, because you know the food is going to be good. Especially when Jack Sherman cooks it! We played some lawn darts. I won the first round and then Eric won the next.

We then headed over to the Truitt's next door. Tiffani, Nick and the kids were out in the backyard playing. Tatum had a good time playing on a climbing wall, sliding and swinging. It is so much fun to see her with other kids. It was especially surreal for me to see my daughter playing in the same backyard that I did as a kid, with one of my best girlfriends kids. We didn't have the camera, but it was a picture perfect moment.

We headed back to my parents house and watched the other neighbors do some fireworks before packing up for the big firework finale of the night. Unfortunately my Dad was not feeling well and decided not to come. That made me a little sad as it is just a family tradition of ours and him not being there was sad. Half the fun of it all is my Dad and his driving us there and back...woah!

We got downtown and decided to head to a different spot than usual. We went to Bancroft Elementary School. I think that it was a great call. We found the walk to be so short and the atmosphere was so family friendly. We got some ice cream from the ding-ding man. Tatum really got into eating hers as you can see. I enjoyed it as it was the first time I have ever had anything from the ding-ding man.




We kept Tatum entertained with some glow bracelets, which she loved. She also got a kick out of seeing some the fireworks that people nearby were lighting off. The hour and a half wait was not as bad as I thought it would be. When the fireworks were about to start up we told Tatum and she was so excited. And with a countdown from 10 to 1 the fireworks began.



As we were laying in bed recounting the day Eric told me he felt like it was the most All American 4th of July...and it was.

Look Who's Two-Two

Look who's Two-Two! On July 2nd Tatum turned two, and I must say it was so much fun. The theme for her party was Tatum is turning Two-Two! I want to give credit to my friend Kelley who threw this theme party for her two year old and I just thought it was so cute and I used the idea as well. Much "Props" to you Kelley!

I had such a fun time getting ready for the big day. From finding invitations, picking out a cute little outfit for Tatum to making the cake it was lots of fun.




We had both Eric's family and my family over for grilling and fun. It was fun for Tatum to have both sets of Grandparents, Aunt Jill, Aunt Alisa, Aunt Beth and Alisa's boyfriend Brian over to celebrate her big day. This gave her plenty of people to show off in front of. She likes to have all the attention on her. (She is starved for attention otherwise don't you know?)

Eric was on the grill. He enjoyed cooking for all the family. We both thought that was the most he has ever grilled at one time on the grill.



When it came time for the cake Tatum really was ready to blow out the candles. Eric held her up and she was able to blow them out all by herself.




While getting ready for the party I was talking with my friend Lynette. We were talking about how when you are a parent that you just want to make everything so special for you child. That you just want them to experience the best of the best so to speak. The next day while driving I was thinking about that statement, and how it is kind of how God is with His children. He wants us to experience "the best of the best" which is walking with Him and seeing things with wonderment like a child. And that is just how Tatum experienced her Birthday. Eyes wide open with wonderment.

O what a weekend!

Well the weekend was fun. Friday night I worked while Eric watched Tatum. They went on a fun walk around the neighborhood. On Saturday Eric did some lawn work. Tatum and I went to do some errands. When we came home we decided it was time to pull out the sprinkler that we had bought her. This sprinkler is part of her Birthday present from Eric and I, but we decided it needed to be brought out a little early.

She had such a good time running around and splashing in the water. I thought is was funny how she tried to eat the water by sticking out her tongue. As you can see for your self she was having a great time.

Saturday night Eric and I went down to the Taste of Omaha. It was fun to hang out in the Old Market. This is something that we did often before we had Tatum. We ran into our friends Ian and Suzanne with their daughter Sky...and it made us wish we had Tatum with us. It was fun to go to the event with out a little one, but you do end up missing them from time to time. We ended the night by getting a light shower of rain on us. I found it to be a romantic ending to the night.

Saturday night we went to bed pretty late and had no idea about the weather that was heading our way. We woke up to my Mom calling us around 2am or so? The tornado sirens were going off and I really did not hear them. It was a little scary and confusing at first. We got Tatum and headed to the basement. We started to empty out the storage closet under the stairs. Eric watched on the TV for updates. I then gathered up the pets. We are very thankful to say that we had no damage to our house or our property.

The storage room is now open for business, as I have now cleaned and gotten rid of some stuff that was keeping it full. It was not fun to not be able to just get in there when we needed to. But we are now ready should we need to get in there in a hurry.

Today we went to a Birthday Party for Mina and Marley and it was a bunch of fun. Tatum really liked hitting the Pinata and playing pin the nose on the clown. My friend Beth really knows how to keep the kids happy with fun games, goody bags and lots of sweets. Tatum did not take her nap today....thanks Beth if you are reading this :)