Blow Pop-Pop Up!!

This is a fun game that Pop-Pop invented with Megan. She uses the pump to blow him up bigger and bigger like a balloon. He starts out bend over and slowly gets bigger and bigger until he pops, then he flies around the room and so does Megan and the dogs! Needless to say this is a big hit and she requests this game often.

Dad and Susie Arrive!

Dad and Susie arrived on Sunday at 1:15am. We all slept in a little on Sunday and then slowly got moving. We opened presents with them and Megan was a real pro by this time. This makes for Christmas #5. She knew just what to do! She is very meticulous about the wrapping paper, every inch of it must be gone! She had a blast opening animals and puzzles and a new train set. She was very excited about the train, she kept saying "choo choo train, no make noise...like library" She doesn't especially like the GeoTrax that Luke and Adam (cousins) play with because it makes noise but this one she really liked because it doesn't make noise!

Last night Megan had Michael and Dad wear the aprons she made for us while they were cooking. I think it's a cute picture unfortunately you can't quite make out the many designs she drew on there. My mom and Megan worked very hard on them. Megan did all the artwork and decided where each picture should go!

The last picture is of Megan playing with the Poodle 'Puppies' She was slow to warm up at first but now she chases them around and loves to play with them. They are also here for the week with Dad and Susie!

A Day of Rest!

A day of rest! On Friday we did a little shopping but mostly stayed home and played with Megan's toys. She has warmed up to the dollhouse quite a bit now that it's put together and she's opened all the accessorries that go with it! We also took a wagon ride to the playground at the church and she really liked that of course! It was nice to relax and play with her. Because of work, doctor's appointments, and shopping it felt like it had been forever since I played with Megan so it was really nice to have a day with Michael and Megan to play!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was full of fun, family, and food! We started the day and our house with Megan opening gifts. She loved the candy in her stocking of course and she really got into opening presents. She really didn't seem to care too much for the dollhouse and accessories at the time but that's ok. She Ooo'ed and Ahh'ed when opening them so that was fun. Michael got a surprise present that was disquised as Megan's present. She was getting tired of opening presents (just wanted to play) and I asked her if Michael could open one, she said yes so he started to and she helped but all of a sudden he was surprised by the contents of the package!

After we had our family Christmas we got in the car for about an hour and drove to Jerome/Rolla for my mom's family Christmas. We had yummy taco's and a lot of fun. Megan held her own when her second cousin (10 months) hit her on the head, she told him "no hit me" and "be nice."

After a few hours there we got back in the car for another hour or so to drive to Michael's parent's house for Christmas there. We were able to spend a little time with everyone before they had to go to other functions. It was fun to see everyone open the presents we picked out for them! Megan got a cash register full of money and some really great outside toys for playing! More pictures to come for Christmas at the Dierkings! It was great to see everyone and it was really great that Norm was home from the hospital for Christmas. We missed Matt and Alicia because of the bad weather up in Iowa but it's better to be safe! After all of that we got back in the car to come home...ahh! We feel very blessed that we have many Christmas's to attend and we really loved spending time with everyone...even if it wasn't as much time as we would have liked!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a busy day. I didn't pass my first glucose test for gestational diabetes so I had the pleasure of sitting for 4 hours Christmas Eve morning to get retested with the 3-hour test. During this time I was able to write out our Christmas cards and get them ready to be sent so it was actually quite nice...aside from the getting poked 5 times! (By the way my test came back just fine so no problems there!) The Christmas cards weren't sent until today the 30th but they should be arriving soon! Better late than never.

During this time my mom watched Megan and they had a blast. Megan sat on the counter for 2-3 hours making cookies. She had a blast as you can see from the picture! She loves cooking so this was an extra special treat!

We went to church that evening for the Children's Service. Megan stood for most of it watching the kids sing and play bells. She took the candle holders and pretended to play the bells herself. At the end of the service we sang Silent Night and lit candles. Megan held onto the candle with Michael for the entire song, we were amazed!

After church we ate pizza and watched the Rockettes dance on tv. Megan was glued to the tv. After that we opened presents with my mom. She got Megan some animals in her stocking and Megan wasn't interested in opening anything else for a while! She also received $ to buy her very own fish, she definitely knows what money is! She also loves her wagon. She kept telling Michael to put the wheels on. Overall Christmas Eve was a ton of fun and jump started the celebrations!

Megan's Christmas Pictures

We decided to take Megan's pictures for Christmas ourselves again this year. Megan and I had a blast, much more fun that I thought we would have. I made lots of silly faces and sounds to make her do a real smile. She really likes to smile to the side or say cheezzzzze which both look a little silly! She had fun getting into different positions and posing for the camera! My favorite is the first picture below! It's amazing how old Megan is starting to look. We haven't taken many pictures lately and all of a sudden she's growing up!

O Christmas Tree...

We are gearing up for Christmas, we put our tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Megan was a lot of help...for the most part! The second picture is of her helping Daddy hammer the stand for the tree! On Sunday, Michael's brother Jon came over to help hang lights outside. It was snowing and very cold that day! It turned out great although we are still waiting to see some of them turned on because we needed an additional extension cord. Hopefully that will happen soon!

Wild West Day...Long Lost Photo's!

Wild West Day was a while ago because it was a very hot day, which is hard to believe because it's so cold outside now! Megan was able to do a lot of fun crafts and activities. We also went on a hayride complete with a robbery and everything!

Fall Fun

Here are a few pictures of Megan enjoying her time playing in our huge leaf pile. She had a blast playing outside and helping with the leaves. Unfortunately we still have the front yard to go...

Another Cute Megan Picture!

Baby D News...

We had our ultrasound the day before Halloween and found out that we are having a baby boy. We just got our bedding for baby D in the mail today and hopefully the room will be painted soon too! The countdown is on and March 14th will be here before we know it!

Camping Pictures!

These first four pictures were from Labor Day. We decided to camp out at Michael's parents house. At the time it was the first time Megan had ever seen stars and really experienced nighttime. She did pretty well but was a little clingy. We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows and the kids had a blast playing in the tents! We tried to have Megan sleep in the tent but she was too wound up so after an hour or two we gave up and I brought her in. She loved the experience though and now always mentions camping. The last picture is of her in her tent here at the house. We couldn't understand what she kept asking for and finally she went and found a picture of a tent on a box and brought it to us so I couldn't resist her pretty please and the tent is up for now. It's a lot of fun!

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Pictures!

I am happy to report that we have a working computer again! It's been a long time coming but I will finally be able to post pictures again. Here are pictures from the Pumpkin Patch and Halloween. Megan loved going to the pumkin patch and thought all of the pumpkins were "too big" until we got to the very little ones! We had a blast going on the hayride and they had an area for Megan to play in the corn (like a sandbox) which she liked more than anything I think!

A few days before Halloween Michael's dad went into the hospital for observation of his heart, he stayed about a week with some complications here and there but he is back at home now and doing much better. We went to the hospital a lot to visit and Megan became very comfortable there, she told grandpa to "take it off" referring to the IV and moniter wires. Then when he rested she said "wake up Grandpa." She also didn't like to be bothered by the nurses so she would close the curtain and say (rather loudly) "no people." She made a great caretaker! We even went up to the hospital Halloween night and she had fun saying "mooooo" We also went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and she rang her cowbell to alert the people we were coming! Megan is growing like crazy, she is talking in 3-4 word sentences all of the time and her newest accomplishment is singing parts of songs, so cute to hear! She still loves to play animals, her favorite words are "play animals ____" and you can insert anyone's name in the room!

...Computer Issues

Sorry it's been such a long time since the last post. Our computer is not workin so well so I'm not able to post pictures yet. Hopefully that will change soon! Megan is doing well. She is still transitioning to the toddler bed and having a bit of trouble sleeping like before, I'm sure she'll get there soon! We have our ultrasound scheduled for 10/30/2008 so that will be exciting! We will definitely be finding out if baby D is a boy or girl! Hope everyone is doing well!

Big Sisters Rock!

Megan's shirt says "Big Sisters Rock"...this can only mean one thing...she's going to be a big sister! The new baby's nickname is "Baby D" (for Baby Dierking) and the due date is March 14th. We are extremely exited and can't wait! Megan will have some adjusting to do when the time comes but it will be a lot of fun! We were able to get a bonus ultrasound last Wednesday because we couldn't hear the heartbeat. The Dr. didn't want me to worry all month so she did a quick ultrasound for free. The first ultrasound we had was really early on and the baby was a speck! This one was wonderful, the baby moved around the entire time we looked, he/she did somersaults and rolls and all sorts of movements. We still didn't hear the heartbeat but that's because the baby was moving around too much so no worries! We will keep everyone updated on the new development!

Our Little Girl Is Growing Up!

Megan is certainly growing up. She has officially given up the paci, as I mentioned in the last post it just kind of happened because Michael couldn't find where I had placed them but it seems that she is just fine without them! The potty training is going well, she's in big girl panties everyday with pull-ups/diaper during nap and at night. She is finally talking more and more. She has always understood a large amount of words and it's fun to hear her say them now and start making sentences...and demands of course! More than anything she just looks bigger, her legs are so long now it's crazy!

The first four pictures below are taken at the park after it rained the day before. Megan and her cousins had a blast! Megan loves the swings and not just for herself, she wanted to have Jessi, Mommy, and Grandma all swing with her! She is still a very cautious child but it's fun to see her become less so. The other day she pushed me away at the playground!

Michael and my mom surprised me with an early birthday present, Mom watched Megan for the weekend and Michael and I went to St. Louis. We visited 2 malls including St. Louis Mills Mall which was amazing, it had everything from an ice rink to go karts to unique stores! We also went to the casino and Michael won $100 which paid for the trip which was wonderful and of course a lot of fun! Today we wanted to spend some time with Megan and we took her to a great park and she had a ton of fun with the rocks but most of all playing in the creek getting her feet wet and throwing rocks!

The last picture is of Megan playing in the beans. For work I have a bean container for the kids to play in, it's become one of Megan's favorite things to do. She usually just plays with the shovels and cups but today I guess she had other plans! She was playing with Daddy because this is certainly a no-no with me!