Our Cherub

Thank you Aunt Cory and family for Leah's tutu! Doesn't she look sweet?!

Kissing Daddy

Rhett likes to run laps around the house. Almost every night we set the timer and the whole family runs before baths.

(Sorry, I thought I had this rotated before I uploaded...)

Fisher Christmas 2009

Papa read the Christmas story from Leah's new Bible and Nate got to put the baby Jesus in the manger. Next year Rhett will get to, then Will, then Leah, then Luke, then Wes. I'm sure they'll be more grandkids by then!

Leah is always ready to eat!

Great Aunt Karen got Rhett a John Deere tractor for Christmas!

Wertenberger Christmas 2009

Santa found Rhett & Leah in Sabetha despite the blizzard!

We took family pictures while we were all home. Here are Big Papa and Grandma Sauce with their 5 grandkids 4 years and younger...

Our family...

The Blizzard of 2009

I can already hear Ben's stories about this snowstorm grow...

We were supposed to travel from Sabetha to Manhattan on Christmas day, but it started snowing on Christmas Eve and didn't let up until the 26th. Combine that with 40 mph winds and we weren't able to get out of the driveway! Ben, his brothers, and brother-in-law worked all morning on the 26th: digging cars out, scooping the drive, and even scooping the gravel road his parents live on. With the help of a neighbor on a Bobcat, we were finally able to get through about noon that day. The drive to Manhattan wasn't too bad (they only had about 6 inches of snow to our 12-15). There was a few places on Hwy 99 that were down to one lane because the west lane was covered in a 6 ft snow drift.

It's been too long!

Our trusty 7-year-old Fuji digital camera up and died right before Thanksgiving. Thankfully the kids haven't had any exciting "firsts" lately that need to be caught on camera. I have been looking for another Fuji and the one I wanted was on sale this week. Yippee! So here are are the kids caught on the new camera.

Leah getting up from a nap (can't even tell the lights were still off!)

Cowboy Rhett. He has been wanting to wear his cowboy hat a lot lately. This morning it was the first thing he asked for when he woke up.

Momma's latest project

Spent part of the weekend crocheting a "Swing Set Cardigan" for Leah. I found the pattern free online and the yarn on clearance for $2 a skein. I only used about 1.5 skeins. Pretty cute for $3 and a few hours work!

It was hard to get her to stand still long enough for a picture. The sweater has 3/4 length sleeves and a little collar.

Just getting into a little mischief when she didn't think I was looking. The pictures I decided not to post were of her crawling in, turning around, and flipping the carseat over causing her to bump her head on the dresser.

(Sorry about the red eye. iPhoto wasn't fixing it tonight for some reason...)

Albuquerque

Aunt Karen is a great host! She was all ready for us to come. She had borrowed a pack-n-play for Leah so we didn't have to travel with one. She had been to the bookstore and farmer's market to buy books and toys for Rhett & Leah.

She even had 2 chairs just the right size!
Just down the road from Karen's place, the neighbors had decorated their wall with 2 of Rhett's favorite people. For those of you who haven't seen "Cars" 8000 times, Radiator Springs is located on Historic Route 66 which also runs through Albuquerque.
The kids were good on the train and made friends with many of the other travelers. Both enjoyed watching the scenery from our seats and also from the observation car.
Thanks Aunt Karen for a fabulous vacation!!

"Hot balloons!"

We took the train to Albuquerque last weekend to visit my Aunt Karen and see the famous annual Balloon Fiesta. The paper said there were 550 balloons went up the morning we were there. They have volunteers to help choreograph the take-offs and they all went off without incident on opening day. Rhett calls them hot balloons.

In addition to normal hot air balloons, they have ones in different shapes. You can see the pair of bees below. They also had a dairy cow, Smoky the Bear, a flying pig, Pepsi can, and several other animals.
Leah kept saying, "oooooooooo." She was quite impressed.
We were able to stand within about 10 feet of the Farmer's Insurance balloon as it aired up and took off. Rhett was a little frightened when they turned the burner on to heat up the air inside the balloon.

To see all of the pictures from our trip, visit: http://thewertenbergerfamily.shutterfly.com/

The First and Last

So grown up, huh?

We moved Rhett out of his crib and out of the room he shared with Leah to the basement and into a queen size bed. He has done really well; not fallen out or got up in the night. I don't think he realizes yet that he could get up on his own. It's so dark down there, he has been sleeping great. So great he wet the bed the first 2 nights! He had been sleeping in underpants for about 3 weeks, but we are back to pull-ups for the time being. I'd rather him sleep in a little!

Here is Leah taking her last bottle. Yeah! We had introduced milk in a sippy cup at meal times a few weeks ago. So when the formula ran out Monday night, that was it. She still has been taking some warm milk in a sippy at bedtime. Having Rhett out of the room has been good for her too. She is also sleeping a little later than "normal." And we can let her talk to herself when she wakes up from naps and in the mornings since we aren't worrying about her waking up Rhett.

Birthday Girl

Here's the birthday girl at exactly 1:27 pm on September 22.

We had her party last weekend. Nothing like a little work for the guest of honor!

She couldn't wait to get her hands on that cake. Rhett blew out the candle for her before she even had a chance. Such a good helper he is...

Her well-child appointment isn't until next Tuesday so I don't have any official stats. The scale at home said 19.4 lb and a rough measurement has her about 27 in (4th %ile). Still petite! She has been walking for about a month already. It can catch people off guard since she is so small. They don't think they should be walking.

She doesn't let Rhett push her around. She tackles him as much as he goes after her. And she hops right back up after a take-down. She always has some bump or bruise, usually on her head!

What a big day, and no pictures to show for it

We went for a family walk last night around town. Rhett loves to go see the train tracks so we headed for our regular spot. When we got there, Rhett spotted a train stopped a little north of town. We decided to go and get a better look. Ben walked Rhett up within about 30 feet and the engineer waved at Rhett out the window. "Wow, that's cool," is one of Rhett's favorite sayings. Then, the engineer came out and asked if Rhett wanted to come inside. Ben said Rhett was a little spooked at first, but warmed up enough to blow the whistle and scare Momma and Leah still out by the strollers! Of course I didn't have the camera or even my phone to take pictures. We are taking the train to Albuquerque in a few weeks to visit my aunt and go to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. He's already talking about it!

Daddy's little helper

Hope he enjoys it this much when it's job to mow the grass (and not get paid for it!)
Step one: Put grape on straw
Step two: Enjoy!

Must have been a good one

Must have been a good nap... Look at that bed head!

GG let Leah keep these jammies as an early birthday present. Rhett helped pick them out. It's so fun to dress little girls, even for bed!

Enjoying the mild weather this month.

Mmmmm

Just wondering... If I use my Reebok Step as a step stool while painting, does it count as exercise?

We are still preparing the bedroom downstairs for Rhett. The bedding is ready (did anyone know that queen size waterproof mattress pad is $35... on sale????!!!!) and I have been painting when I have the time. Rhett came home sick from daycare this morning and is napping well so I just finished edging. Maybe I can get a wall or two done before Ben brings Leah home from daycare. (She was asleep when I picked up Rhett and we've already paid for it so I left her there!)

He's here!

Jobi and Rachelle welcomed Kyson Glen to the world at 4:12 this morning. It was a LONG process but sounds like both mom and baby are doing fine. Jobi sounded pretty proud on the phone and said Rach did a great job (she's EXHAUSTED after a 29 hour labor - from water breaking to delivery). Kyson weighed 8 lb 13 oz and was 21 in long. We will try to get over to see them after school and I'll get some pics. Please pray for them in these first few days of parenthood!

Leah

We can't believe Leah is 11 months old already. She's still petite but she's tough. She's started to walk and doesn't let anything get in her way. She continues to be happy and laid back but is beginning to let us know when she isn't getting her way.

Leah gives wet kisses and tight squeezes. Since Ben went back to work, she has been missing him during the day. When Daddy gets home from work, all Leah wants to do is sit on his lap or be carried around by him. Daddy hates this...
This photo was taken for her birthday invitation. I just can't believe she will be one soon. Isn't she adorable?! She has 6 teeth. She looked like a vampire all summer since both her top side teeth came in before her front teeth. Now the front 2 are coming in and I think the bottom side teeth aren't too far off.

Rhett

Rhett plays hard and rests hard. He went through a 2 week period this summer of 4+ hour naps. We are in the process of turning the basement bedroom into a big boy room for him. Naps have been more successful in separate rooms lately.

Potty training is going pretty good. He wears big boy underwear and keeps them dry most days. He doesn't tell you when he needs to go but does stay dry until you take him. Number 2 has been more of a struggle but just in the last few days we have made some progress. He gets to go for a ride in Daddy's truck over the train tracks if he goes poop in the toilet, a special treat.
Rhett is a talker! I think he was talking to Big Papa and Grandma Sauce this day. Favorite new phrases are "whatever" and "just Rhett" (when you call him anything other than Rhett).

And we're back...

Sorry we have been absent for a while (my mom reminded me last night that my last post was June 22). Here's what we've been up to:

Wes and waiting...

Baby cousin Wes was born a week early on July 31, to Cory and Derek. He's so sweet. Now we are waiting on another baby boy cousin to arrive ANY DAY from Jobi and Rachelle.

We had cousins Drew and Tyler over for a back to school water slide.

Ben went back to work on August 10. First day of school pictures now include kids instead of backbacks.
It's never too early to start. The kids have been doing their reading lessons in preparation for the first day of school 2012 and 2014.

A Day of First's

Leah has enough hair to wear clippies! We'll see how long it stays in...

Rhett wore big boy pants into town to the grocery store with no accidents! He even used the toilet at Wal-Mart (this is more than we can say for his mom, public bathrooms, yuck!)

And perhaps the biggest news of all...

Ben got me a "just because" card today. He even wrote some nice things in it! He left it for me on my pillow before he left for work. Sneaky!

Giddy up!

My cowboy grandpa is turning 80 in a few weeks. He is still riding pens at a feed yard everyday and competing in team roping competitions. He's amazing! My cousin Tara is working on a scrapbook for him with pictures of all the great-grandkids (6 boys and 6 girls) and was wanting some cowboy -themed pictures. I think Tara has more hours in her day or I am lazy...

Leah doesn't have any cowgirl wear yet, other than the hat. So we were without any "wear" at all!

Rhett got a new cowboy hat at the Crazy House in Garden City last week. Great-grandma made the neck scarf for him for Christmas. He's wearing it just like Papa Don does in the winter.