updated photos!

Some photos from Luke and Isaac's most recent shoot! These were taken by my friend, Jenn, who actually delivered Luke!
Isaac: 3 yrs
Luke: 1 yr

We love our babysitters!

Isaac probably didn't mind that mike was working and I am in indianapolis! Jenn and Joe did a great job!!






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Another hockey boy!

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Indy

Well all of our fun traveling is done and now I am doing some not so fun traveling. We all went back to KS for a few days in May and in the meantime Mike and I left the kiddos with his parents and went to Miami for a few days. It was a nice relaxing time to be together. Now I am in Indianapolis where I am doing a rotation for one month. I have to come back here in September too. It is a great rotation, in terms of getting to see interesting surgeries and things that isn't even done in Grand Rapids. I was definitely ready for a change to am thankful to be doing some different and fun surgeries. Of course, I terribly miss my kids. We stay busy here which helps and I am working on a research project. I'm also trying to update some baby books while I am here! I have been running a lot here too and found some nice trails. The worst times are at night when I miss my kids and I'm in my hotel so prayers would be appreciated for my kids who miss me too, my husband who is being a single dad at home for a month, and for me who is missing my kids! So a lot of you may be getting calls from me on Friday nights and Sunday nights on my drive from Indy to GR and back on the weekends I go home!!

On a happier note, it is just amazing to watch Isaac continue to develop his language skills. Last week, he had an owie and Mike told him to pray to Jesus to help make himself feel better. The next day, he said, "Jesus helped me feel better daddy! Daddy, who is jesus? Where does he live?" After Mike tries to explain . . . "Where is heaven?" he's been very inquisitive about Jesus lately. Saying to Grandma as she left today for church, "Gamma, do you love Jesus?!" I guess he wanted to confirm that he wasn't the only one who had heard about this Jesus =)

La Vidal Miami

Heres a pic from where I am sitting right now in Miami! This is the place where the Victorias secret fashion show was this year. Clearly, I fit in, ha ha.


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Love and Laughter

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Cute boys

Yesterday Mike and Isaac watched a little of the royal wedding.

Isaac looking at westminster abbey said " what's that building?"
Mike " it's a church"
Isaac, thought for a moment " do u think they have toys at that church?"
I guess it looked a little fancy to him compared to his idea of a church



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Happy Easter

Enjoy celebrating this special day of Jesus' resurrection!



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The great hunt

The boys and I went off to a local church for an Easter egg hunt. It was fun bc Isaac actually understood the point this year. He was a little overwhelmed w all the ppl but had fun using his baseball Easter basket. The best part was when we got home and I got a big snuggle on the couch while we were warming back up!



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KC love

Here's a picture of "Also" as Isaac calls him. We tried to go on a walk tonight and it was sooo cold! But at least the sun was shining so we had to get outside and playand. Thanks to our Kentucky friends, Luke had a nice new handmade blanket to keep warm in



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Up in the tundra

So this is the view from my frontdoor this am we miss Kansas


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Finally, an update

I will be able to post more now since I can do it from my phone! Here is isaac and Luke! Isaac said the sweetest thing the other day. I was trying on dresses and he said mommy, u look like a princess, u should "swirl" :) that just made my day!





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The Great White North

Just Waiting for the Mail


My Snowblowing Buddy


Also This One


Say Geeze

We finally got a real snow here, and apparently it set a record in some areas of 20 inches. I still think the weather is worse in KS, no minus wind chills here. Luke is rolling over now and wants to grab everything to which I have started calling him Spiderman(seems like everything within 12 inches of his arms finds his mouth). He had his 4 month appt and is on track to keep up with Isaac's growth. He is also sleeping pretty well through the night, which makes life a lot better.
Isaac has seemed to expand his conversations and social abilities within the past 2 weeks which has been pretty entertaining. My favorite is the instance where the mailman asked him, "What's your name" to which Isaac responds without hesitation, "Goalie". He's also a really good big brother to Luke which is great!

Where's the Zamboni?

Manion Ice Arena in All Its Glory

NHL Draft Scouts Get Ready

Don't Blink...You Might Miss the Speedster

Luke in the Official Seal of Approval (Daddy's baby outfit)


One onther tidbit: Tonight I (Mike) made a couple of things out of a top secret restaurant recipe book and Isaac wasn't really interested in either one. He also got a couple of new baseball figurines today and really wanted to play with them. So after two bites, the manipulative little 2 year old says, "Daddy Iya all done."
Kristi and I respond with the fact that needs to eat a couple more bites of his food before he can play. To which he responds, "Daddy you are good cooking man...Does that make you happy?" I say to him, " Thanks buddy that does make me happy" Only to be followed by Isaac smiling and saying, "Iya go play with baseball guys now?"
(Needless to say he still had to finish his meal but did get some good laughs from us, which we tried to play off as laughing at Luke, so that Isaac didn't think he was successful in his first negotiation)

JOY

Tis the season to be joyful!! I love Christmas and I love the fact that there is a time each year that we are given the chance to reflect on what God has done for us and to thank him for Jesus. It's hard though because with this time it seems that so many un-Christmasy things cause extra stress. I was power-shopping Saturday night (where I got all of my shopping done in 2 hrs!) and realized how much I do not enjoy that part of Christmas. Way too many people, loudness, and just craziness in the stores. I definitely prefer online shopping =) I'm glad we have the weekend and I am so excited to have Christmas Eve off. I got really lucky because usually that's a work day but since Christmas fell on a Saturday the hospital holiday is the day before. Yay! Our Christmas Eve service is so awesome. Last year it was amazing and this year they are having part of the Grand Rapids Symphony there. The worship is just amazing and I still remember the message from last year. I wish all of you could be there!

Mike built an ice hockey rink, yes I did just say that, an ice hockey rink in our backyard. This is kind of a normal thing up here but something I definitely didn't know about. It's about 16x24 feet. Last night, Mike was out on the ice with Isaac and his friend, Joe, when our neighbor yelled over that her kids were coming over to play. Her "kids" were 30 somethings visiting for Christmas and wanted to play on the ice. I thought it was hilarious that four grown men and a two year old were playing hockey in our backyard.

I had the joy of watching Isaac skate for the first time tonight. I told Mike that I hope he remembers that moment forever. Mike was holding him under his arms and helping him to skate along. Isaac was so excited and kept looking up at me to make sure I was still at the window watching with Luke. Mike just found him some real hockey skates off of Criags list and Isaac is just beyond excited. We couldn't wait untit Christmas to give them to him!

Well, the Christmas cards should be going out in a few days and then I will feel super proud of myself. I actually sent them out in February last year so I think I'm doing well =) There is a spelling mistake on them but I think if they were perfect, it wouldn't represent our family very well ;)

Hope you are enjoying the week!!

double trouble

So I know that I just posted this picture of Luke but Mike and I were commenting how much he looks like his cousin, Ella, on Mike's side. I think there is a strong Manion family resemblance. Maybe its more obvious in person or if you know them but I think these two pictures are pretty close and it was when they were about the exact same age too. Fun =)

Our Winter Bunker

I am finally going to post a few pictures of the basement while I am on a roll with the posting thing. It was just the basic concrete floor, unfinished basement which you can probably tell from the pre photos. So Mike finished this awhile ago but I wanted to show a few pics because we finally have it mostly decorated. He added all the outlets, lighting, and made the outlets behind the TV so that the wiring didn't show. He drywalled it, put down the floor, put in a drywall ceiling, and finished it all off with mouldings. This was quite the project for him for a couple of months. This will be our new winter hideaway. It already has been so much fun to have. I have my elliptical down there (which I am excited to use eventually), Isaac has a hockey area in the unfinished part and a hockey jigsaw mat on the finished side that he can play on. we are so thankful for this space and it definitely adds to our indoor activities for the winter when we kind of feel like we are hibernating. I guess we are supposed to get a lot more snow this year. Actually, it was pretty nice last year. There isn't wind here like we have in Kansas so while we have more snow, the lack of windchill makes it much more bearable. I definitely am glad that we have an SUV bc there are days when my little Rolla won't make it out of the driveway (Toyota wasn't really thinking snow when they designed the Corolla). We didn't build a guestroom but the couch is comfy, so come visit anytime =)

The Ants Go Marching (Gingerly)

We are doing great this week and I am really enjoying my last week home with the boys. Mike is working this week so we are on our own which is a first on my maternity leave. Mike left today for work and Isaac was crying, saying "no daddy work, work closed". Apparently, he thought he could convince him not to go. We had fun though and I put on a good show with our silly songs CD. My marching to the Ants go marching song wasn't quite up to par but Isaac seems to accept me in my gimp state okay. Here are a couple of pics of the boys and then one of Ethan and Isaac. We (Anspaugh fam) all went on a walk and Ethan wore his Batman costume so Isaac just couldn't leave without a cape on. My mom, being the great grandma that she is, just happened to know where an extra cape was in our house! So Isaac was happy and we enjoyed seeing him wear a cape that my gradma made and that I wore as a little girl on Halloween. We also had to have the traditional Manion boy royals picture that we had with Isaac.

I really will miss the boys when I go back, naturally, but am thankful again that Mike is home with them! We've had so much fun and I know there is so much more fun to come!

Update, finally

I guess we have been a little busy lately because I have this wonderful new baby to show off and a great two year-old and haven't managed to put up pics yet. I still won't get it done today but at least I can write what we've been up to. Maybe tonight I will try to download them from my camera. Anyway, we went home for a week to see family, spent about 3 days in Kansas City and 3 days in Topeka. Isaac was so good in the car and Luke just slept the whole time of course. It is difficult traveling with two kids but I think we are pros now at the long drives =) At least Mike is. We left at 5:30pm from Grand Rapids and got in Kansas City at 4:30am our time. The nice thing is that Isaac took a late nap for about 2 hours since he was too excited to nap at home, then we took a good dinner break while I fed Luke and Mike and Isaac went to Bass Pro shop. After that it was hockey video time! Mike gets this hockey video from the library that is instructinoal hockey tips, totally boring (sorry Isaac) but that Isaac just loves. So they entertained themselves in the back with that and veggies tales for awhile and then Isaac just slept til we got to KS. People always ask how we do it so thought i'd share.

It has been a little more challenging than normal lately which is probably why I haven't written. Luke got sick in KS and is waking up all night and we are dealing with Isaac's "needs". He is a super great boy but is of course, two years old, which means there is a lot to get upset or worked up over. Mike and I are taking shifts at night getting up with the kids so that helps. I honestly can't imagine how it would be if he was working! I am so thankful that we made that decision as it makes life so much better.

Someone said to us when we were in KS that this is the busiest time in our lives, having little ones, and I definitely believe it. But then I think, well I'm making it so we'll just keep plugging along! It's also one of the most amazing times. Luke is such a beautiful baby and is smiling now. It is one of God's greatest inventions, the smile of a baby. So precious and innocent. That's always a fun reward during the day to make Luke smile. Isaac is also talking so much and seeing him put words together amazes us each day. He saw a blow-up santa in Lowe's and said "ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas". We have no idea where he got that from, it wasn't from us!

I started back taking ENT call last week. It's nice to take it now for November and not have to make it up later. I don't start back to surgery until the week of Thanksgiving though which is nice to have 7 full weeks off. This week was a little extra challenging. I had surgery on my foot on Wednesday and am recovering now. I have a lovely boot on my foot. I had a ganglion cyst that was causing some problems and I'm hoping that when I heal I will be able to run again because it has prevented me from doing that for a long time. I am soooo thankful that it was able to be done during my maternity leave because otherwise I would have to take about 2 weeks off from doing surgery. Now I just am being forced to sit and rest. It's probably good for me, I am just sitting all day enjoying looking at Luke and being waited on =)

So that was a lot! If you made it this far, thanks for "listening"! We are doing Thanksgiving at our house this year and we are spending the day with our close friends and making dinner together. It's one of my favorite holidays, even if I turn 30 over the Thanksgiving weekend . . . .

Lots of love to our friends and family!!!!

Cats Meow

Mike was asking Isaac the other day, "what does a (K-state) wildcat say?" He goes "Meow". Mike was quick to correct him, that a wildcat actually says "Roar" and I found it hilarious. Isaac gets it right now and I thought the Jayhawk fans on here would appreciate that.