Visit with Santa

Boy did we have fun visiting with Santa at the Jordan's last night! Robert was so excited anticipating the party where it was said that Santa just might show up. He was such a good boy all day long! He thought about what he would say to Santa and had it all planned out. And when Santa walked in the room, he was paralyzed in mid-cookie eating. He finished his green cookie as fast as I have ever seen him eat. He even wiped his hands and mouth when I whispered that he wouldn't want to mess up Santa's outfit. He sat right on the floor at his feet, and when Molly read Twas the Night Before Christmas, Robert couldn't keep his eyes off of Santa. He was looking him up and down with a cute grin on his face. He was completely enamored! When it was time for the children to take turns sitting on Santa's lap, Robert was first in line! He climbed right up there, and the whole room was quiet. Santa asked him to tell everyone his name. He said, "My middle name is Mitchell Kunes, the fird. And...my....last name is Robert." Then he said loud and clear that he wanted that "marble fing" for Daddy and a talking Spiderman. And then he shut down. He couldn't remember anything else he planned to say. He was completely overwhelmed. He hopped down, and he promptly lost interest in Santa and began to inhale the big candy cane Santa gave him. I could kick myself that I left the camera in the diaper bag that got swept upstairs with the coats upon our arrival. We got a few not so great pictures. Better than nothing, I guess. Lillian did not want anything to do with Santa. Every time I asked her if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap or go near him, she said loud and clear, "Nooo!" Rob finally took her up to him and she was stiff and kept whimpering, "no". She sure didn't have any problems with the big ole candy cane, though. What a fun night! Many thanks to the Jordan's and to Santa for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit with us last night.

Lillian Lately

She's cute, too! She's fearless and funny and full of life!!! And no, I didn't tell her to kiss that little elf thing in that picture...I busted her up there kissing him all by herself. And yes, I was grossed out that she put the net in her mouth. Really grossed out!!!!

Robert Lately

Had to share these pictures that our friend Raj took at the church Christmas pageant and a birthday party at My Gym. Isn't he just precious? I could squeeze that cutie all day and it wouldn't be enough. What a blessing beyond all measure are my children!

Tis the Season

What we've been doing lately:
Caroling with church
Baking cookies and treats
Learning about Jesus' birth
Talking about Santa and his reindeer a little...but not that interested, yet.
Kinda ignoring the elves on the shelf...much to the disappointment of Aunt Julie who sent the movie and an elf book to perk their interest (I think it's just a lot of tradition to take in all at once--information overload)
Making paper ornaments and Christmas crafts
Wearing Christmas pjs
Listening to Christmas songs--each one is Robert's favorite, he tells me (and I totally get it--they are all my favorites, too)
Decorating the whole house with lots of colored lights and Christmas stuff
Being a sheep in the church Christmas pageant (even though he wanted to be a tiger...or a horse, "cause they had horses back then, Mom!")
Riding around looking at Christmas lights
Eating too much candy and treats!
Overall just havin' a great time preparing for Christmas!

Halloween Rewind

So I just got a new ipad, thanks to an early Christmas present from my wonderful mother and father-in-law. Goodbye slow computer, hello fast and convenient new addiction! With the help of the Blogger app, I can now write blog posts and upload pics in no time flat! I know I'm backtracking a bit, but I had been meaning to do a Halloween post. Aunt Julie sent the cutest costumes to Robert and Lillian. Lillian looked adorable as a little lamb and adored showing off when we went to hand out pretzels at a local nursing home. Robert just couldn't decide what he wanted to be. The cowboy costume was precious and even had spurs, but Spiderman won when it came to Halloween night. He still likes to play Cowboy dress up around the house--and Spiderman, for that matter!

Playin in the Rain

Rainy day blues not so blue when ya got rain boots, spidey jammies, and an umbrella. Let it rain!!!

A Busy Morning

First Day of School!

Robert's angel just had to be in the picture. No matter how many I took at different angles, this streak of light would not leave!

He picked out his outfit. He wanted green so his teacher would know it was his favorite color!

Daddy came downstairs from an early morning meeting to come in with Robert on his first day of school!

Well, I made it through the first day of school! He is attending Children's House of Galilee (a Montessori school at our church). I wasn't at all worried about Robert. Of course, he had no problems at all. It was just hard on Mom to let him go. I did well, thanks to lots of moms and kids around to keep me from losing it. I didn't want to embarrass myself! Rob also scheduled a prayer appointment for me directly after dropping him off--and that really helped a lot. Lillian and I then went for a quick handbell practice, a nice walk, a smoothie, and a walk at the oceanfront. Keeping busy really helped me make it to 11 for early pickup. Usually school will be from 8:45 to 12:15, Tues.-Fri. (we're opting to take Mon. off so we can all be together on Daddy's day off) but for the first few days, the newbies only go til 11.

Robert seemed to have fun. Here are a few things he said about his first day:

"My favorite thing at school today was the puzzles. What was your favorite, Mom?"

"All the kids were naughty." "They kept taking down stuff they weren't allowed to touch. Grownup toys."

"They didn't say welcome to me. Oh wait, they did welcome me."

"The lights went out." "Miss Jackie made them go out." "To remind the kids to keep it quiet." "I reminded my own self to keep quiet."

That's all I could get out of him so far. I'm sure more will come in time. He drew a green picture today and his teacher noticed he was left-handed. Just like Unka Davey!

Here's to a great school year for my Big Boy Robert. May God bless Him, teach Him, and shine His light through him each and every day!

Slow Down!

Slow down, life. Speed up, computer. That pretty much sums up why I haven't posted in 4 months. My poor, ailing computer can't keep up with the speed of two growing children and a busy life. I finally hijacked Rob's computer over this past weekend so that I can attempt to update the blog. There's so much to say and only so much time to type. So here it goes...

We traveled a lot this summer. As it turns out, despite our rigid routine at home, our family travels quite well! We spent almost two weeks visiting family and friends in Charleston. We came back for only a few weeks before leaving again for Family Ministry Camp at St. Christopher on Seabrook Island, SC. We came home from that trip, celebrated Robert's birthday, then left again for a two week trip to Atlanta to visit family. And finally, we ended the summer with a nice visit from Nona and Pops and a 1st birthday celebration for Lillian. The children proved to be great on long car rides, airplane rides, and in hotel rooms! We were all pleasantly surprised and can't wait to travel more with them!

Robert seems to be changing almost daily. He enjoyed a dinosaur themed beach birthday bash with all of his friends. Age 3 is proving to be much more challenging than 2 as far as boundary testing. He's spending lots of time on the naughty mat, which he hates. He's quite full of it lately. He told me the other day that if I put him on the naughty mat he would pee on it. And sure enough, he did just that. He pulled his pants off and peed right on it! And he got just what I promised he would if he did it: a spanking. We save spanking for very rare occasions, and boy was he surprised when he got one! Despite some healthy boundary testing, he's really still a sweet boy who is full of questions and gaining quite a big vocabulary. Just the other day he asked me if when we died and went to Heaven would we see the dinosaurs there since they are all "estinked" now. That was a hard one that Daddy later told me he was relieved I took care of myself and didn't send his way. They didn't cover that in seminary. I told him that God didn't really say in the Bible so we would just have to ask God when we got to Heaven. He's really into dinosaurs, robots, and Spiderman. He tries new words all the time. He told me yesterday that he "prefers" his big blanket. Obviously, he is ready for school. He's starting a Montessori program at our church on Wednesday. I know he'll love it!

Lillian is a wild little girl. She's been walking since she was about 10 1/2 months old. She is power walking, now, but she hasn't quite figured out how to run. She will climb on anything with no fear and especially loves the rare treat of climbing stairs when she is around some. We don't have any at our house. She is finally communicating with sign language and trying to say all kinds of words, though only I can tell what she's trying to say. She signs eat, milk, more, and dog. You know, the important ones. She also makes a woof woof sound when she sees the dogs. She loves her baby dolls and can hug, rock, and pat them. She enjoys taking them on stroller rides around the house. She's still a bit more challenging than Robert was, especially during the day as she wants to be held a lot and throws tantrums when her needs are not met. She screams, throws herself down, and has even banged her head on the floor on purpose. She's a much better sleeper than Robert was, though. She loves to go "nie nie," and even eagerly repeats it when you say it to her. She goes down after a quick nursing and sleeps at least 12 uninterrupted hours per night. She takes an afternoon nap of about 1 to 2 hours. That's pretty amazing in our household where Robert still doesn't sleep great. She is still a big girl. She weighed 25 1/2 at her 1 year old appointment. I was actually relieved that she didn't triple her birth weight as many babies do. That would have put her over 30 pounds. She's heavy enough as it is! She's a sweet thing, though, and gives lots of cuddles and hugs to anyone who is near her and willing. She'll walk right up to a stranger, and if he opens his arms, she'll go right into them for a hug and a kiss. Sweet, but kinda scary. Gotta watch her closely at the park!

There is so much more to say. I will hopefully get my hands on Rob's computer more often. It's even harder to play catch up after 4 months than it is to do a quick post each week!

Check out the FOUR new picture albums I put up over there to the left under Picture Albums. Plus, I added two new videos as well! Enjoy!

Our Newest Little Christian!

"Lillian Grace, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own Forever." Hearing those words at any baptism brings tears of joy to my eyes every time. Praise God that another person receives the Holy Spirit and will be brought up to love and serve the Lord! But hearing them spoken by Rob's best friend and Lillian's Godfather, Fr. Dagnall Free, was so unbelievably special! I know that he and his wife Sallie will join us in praying for and raising Lillian to follow Jesus all the days of her life. They are special friends given to us by God, and they have walked with us already through so much! Lillian's baptism was truly a joyous occasion. All of her grandparents and her Uncle David were there to witness her spiritual birth. And perhaps most special of all, her Daddy got to baptize her! She was so happy during the service. She just beamed when I walked her up the aisle to introduce her to the congregation as the newly baptized! What an amazing day for the Kunes family! Praise God!

Lillian with Fr. Dagnall and Sallie Free, her godparents

I hope and pray that she will always be this proud of her Christian identity and that each day she will grow closer to Jesus!

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Well, I've been really good about uploading pictures to the blog, as you can see in the newest album over there to the left under "Picture Albums." But I haven't taken time to write any updates, and there are a few.

Lillian is on the go and has been for about 3 weeks now. She is a wild girl and gets into everything. She's already swallowed some packing tape, which she promptly threw up along with everything else in her stomach. Thank God for that safety feature of our bodies. We finally set up the pack and play to use as a play pen when we can't be in the room with her. This was a lot easier when we lived in a shoebox apartment with a crawling baby. Robert didn't get into much because it was so easy to watch him in such a small area. I think Lillian is a bit wilder than he was, though, so we've got our hands full with her!

You may have noticed that I mentioned packing tape. Yes, we are moving AGAIN! We cannot sell our house in Charleston at this time with this market, so we are renting it. Thus, we have to continue renting here in Virginia Beach. When we chose our current rental house, we were under a time crunch and didn't realize that the street that our backyard faces is very busy and LOUD. We can't even have a conversation in our backyard. The thought of staying here for a few more years was pretty dreadful, though we like the house itself. We decided to look for another rental, and thank God we found a good one in a very nice neighborhood. It should be much quieter! And our landlord agreed to build a fence for us! Rob and our contractor friend helped build it on Holy Saturday of all days. Yeah, that was the only day that would work for the landlord and his buddies, and we needed to get it in before we moved. It was a crazy day for Rob as he got up early to start working on the fence, quickly changed into clericals to rush to the Egg Hunt at church to give a quick homily, and rushed back to help finish the fence before the Vigil at 8. He had just enough time to grab a bite before he got back into his clericals and headed back to church for the two hour Easter Vigil. Bless his heart, it was a wild day, but they got the fence done!

Rob's first Holy Week as a priest was busy and exhausting for him, but I think Nashotah House did a great job preparing him for it. It was lots better for me and the children, though, because we had Rob's parents here for the week. Instead of struggling to take care of two children by myself all week, Rob's mom was here and we enjoyed all kinds of fun activities. And then his dad came up on Thurs., and we had a great weekend together.

Well, I think that pretty much covers it for now, and the children are starting to notice that I'm having some alone time here on the computer :) God Bless you all!




















Crawling in a dress is not easy. Get this thing off of me!















Mmmmm....I love candy!















Our new rental house!

Feel Better Soon, Aunt Julie

Dear Aunt Julie,

We made an album entitled "Spring 2011" just for you! It's over to the left under Picture Albums. Click on it and it will take you to lots of new pictures. We love you and hope that you get to feeling better very soon!

Love,

Robert and Lillian, Rob and Julie, and Nona

Lillian Seven Month Update

Hi everyone! Lillian went for her checkup this week. It was supposed to be her 6 month checkup, but due to scheduling issues, it was a 7 month checkup. She topped the charts at 21 lbs. 9 oz. and 28 in. She's very healthy except for some minor allergy symptoms. She constantly rubs her eyes to the point of distraction and waking herself up, so the doc gave us some eye drops. They seem to help as she gives us more than two hour sleep stretches at night. Her record is about 5 hours, but she's inconsistent at this point. In other news, a cute little tooth finally popped through: the bottom middle one. She hasn't started crawling, yet, but she's still doing pushups and rolling around like crazy. She's also actually enjoying her food lately. It took a few days of trying, but she now gets excited to eat a bit in the morning and late afternoon. She's had brown rice, barley, and oatmeal as well as bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes. It's been fun getting back into puree making. I hope to get even more adventurous with her than with Robert, but we'll see what she likes. Robert didn't end up doing purees for very long as he was more interested in finger foods.

Anyway, enjoy these pics of her eating and wearing her new summer bonnet that Aunt Julie just sent. It's so cute and reminds me of the ones I wore when I was little.

Milestones

It's a big week at the Kunes' House! Robert is starting to toilet train this week. I took a picture of him in his new boxers. We had a serious talk about the commitment to wear underwear and not diapers, to strive for dryness, and to take the final steps out of babyhood. He said he was up to the challenge....and then peed in his underwear about 10 minutes later. Nice. It's gonna be a long week. I'd appreciate your prayers.

In other less messy news, Lillian is our house superhero this week. She's been doing push ups and trying to crawl already! She'll be 7 months in 3 days. While I'm glad she's progressing, I'm not ready to chase a crawling baby, yet! She still hasn't gotten those teeth we thought were coming in a few months ago, but she's working on a bottom middle tooth. It's just about to pop through the gums, and she's not happy. That molar that's visible just under the gums never came in. So this could be a big month for her: crawling and teeth. Should be fun! Right?!