Sleeping Beauties: My Favorite Time of Day

A Whole New Look

As a young boy growing up in the Studer household, I had daily reminders of my hair follicle future. My father started losing his hair at a young age, and his father did as well. My older brother followed suit, and so it went. I knew that at some point my hairline would start the gradual path to oblivion.

"Maybe you'll be different," my mother always told me. Yeah right, Mom. Apparently I'm not that special. I had tons of hair as a boy (like most people do) but I just couldn't hang on to it. The years after college went just as I imagined they would. Slowly but surely my hair continued to fall out. "You've kept it longer than your dad and your brother," my mom would say. I love my mom for trying to make me feel better, but it's not much comfort when I saw pictures of myself from the year before and could barely recognize myself.

Hair cuts seemed more and more useless every time I went. But since I was on TV I continued to pay $20 a pop to have someone cut what few hairs I had left. But now I've left the TV world where I was contractually obligated to keep what little hair remained. So now that I'm out of the television grasp, I decided to go for it. Get rid of it all.

Here's the progression...

It's definitely different, and cold. It's crazy how much your hair insulates your melon from the crisp South Dakota wind. But my wife says she likes it, which I guess is all that matters, right? Since she has to stare at my mug the most, I guess she should be happy with it. And she said, "You've dealt with about 100 of my different hair styles, I think I can deal with you shaving your head."

So there you have it, me and my cold cue ball. Just pray for Alex and Maguire. Poor fellas don't know what's coming their way in about 25 years. But at least now they'll have me as a picture of their own follicle future.

Warning: This Shirt May Cause Nightmares

I'm 98% sure that everyone who reads this blog knows us in real life too, and it's certainly no secret that I am not a particularly "girly" girl. Sure, I like to get dressed up from time to time and most days find me with at least a little makeup on, but I am no big fan of the ruffles and frills. Evidently God decided that what I needed was a daughter who luuuuuves all things girly. And lacy. And bedazzled. And pink. So it's no surprise that we came home with this gem after our shopping trip today.

Why, yes, since you asked....that is a baby kitten sitting in front of a rainbow...on a bed of flowers...surrounded by many other hearts, birds, and flowers. And just in case you can't make them out, it appears the baby kitty has angel wings. Or maybe that's just a butterfly behind her -- I can't quite tell for sure. But really, at this point it's irrelevant, don't you think? I cannot believe they even make shirts like this -- and that I bought it! Lucky for Ellie, she looks cute no matter what she's wearing. Although this shirt may be pushing the limits....

Here she is in her newest Dollar Store find, her "rock star" hair!

"All those rainbows and hearts and flowers. It's too much!"

"It's like that cat is hypnotizing me...."



The boys are up to no good as usual -- getting braver with walking, although neither has taken more than 3-4 steps at a time yet. No hurry as far as we're concerned! They both love to ham it up for the camera lately, too.

I just threw this picture in because I figured everyone would go, "Awww, look at how Maguire is smiling at Alex. He loves his brother so much! Look at how sweet!" But be sure to check out the video below for what usually follows that look.

For Sale Sign, We Hardly Knew Ya

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!

As Ellie's beloved Dora the Explorer would say, "Lo hicimos (we did it)!" Our house officially went on the market the afternoon of the 9th, and by the night of the 10th we received an offer from the first people who looked at our house! Of course, the sale is pending results of a home inspection (standard procedure when you sell to a 1st time home-buyer), but we are so excited! Mostly because now I don't have to keep the house ultra-clean and organized. :) We close on our house on April 22nd, so now begins the search for a place in Huron.

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers during this time of transition -- keep on praying for a nice place to move!

Mmmm.....Waffles

In my quest to plump these boys up, I have been pushing the fatty foods -- with mixed success. Some previous favorites (avocado, scrambled eggs) are evidently now offensive just sitting on the tray (never mind trying to convince them to take a bite!) and get immediately dropped to the floor.

Now, who wouldn't love to be under orders to cram in as much cheese, whole milk, butter, and cream as you can get? The doctor even has me mixing carb/fat supplement powder into their liquids! We have come across a few winners like hot dogs, french toast sticks, whole milk yogurt, and the other night I think I hit the jackpot -- pumpkin waffles with cream cheese. Yum!

They couldn't get enough of these!

Mmm....we likey!



The fat-fest must be paying off -- we went to the doctor today for a weigh-in and both boys have gained a pound in the last month! Alex was back on the growth chart (3rd %ile) at 19 lb 11 oz while Maguire is still just below registering on the curve at 19 lb 7 oz. We have to go back again in a month to weigh in again, but they seemed fairly certain that their skinny little bods are just due to their extremely high activity level.

Other good news -- it's time for the front-facing car seats! Now we just have to figure out a new arrangement for who sits where in the van!

Why We Can't Wait to Move to Huron (And A Few Random Updates)

My apologies to anyone who is still checking in on our blog from time to time, only to be disappointed at the lack of posting. We have been crazy busy getting the house ready to list, and most nights find me (and Chris, on the nights he's home) organizing, cleaning, and trying to stay on top of the normal clutter of life with small children. But tonight (for a little while, anyway) I figured I'd catch you (Yes, you! All 8 of you still reading -- five of whom are grandparents!) up on what we've been up to. As you might have guessed from the picture above, we made the trek to Huron this past weekend to check out the sights and drop off a load of junk treasured possessions at our storage unit. It took roughly 12 minutes to check out Super WalMart and the giant pheasant. For real.

But seriously, it seems like a nice town. We realize how blessed we have been the past few months. A wonderful job with great benefits that will still allow me to be at home with the kids. What more could we ask for? Well, maybe someplace warm....

Now for the random updates! The kiddos and I spent a week in Brainerd in mid-February when my brother Ben, sister-in-law Ryan, and niece Lorna came to visit all the way from California. Yes, I really am fearless (or foolish?) enough to drive 5-1/2 hours with a four year old and two one year olds. Everyone was on their best behavior and I had a good audiobook to listen to -- we even stopped for lunch! We had so much fun hanging out with them, it was hilarious watching the two little girls play.

Favorite Ellie quote of the week (to Grammie):

Ellie: "Grammie, sometimes it's hard for me to understand what Lorna is saying, because I (insert quacking duck hand gesture next to her mouth here) speak English."

The boys had fun trying on lots of Papa's hats and generally wreaking havoc on Grammie and Papa's house. These two are animals! They had their one year well-child exam a few weeks ago, and both are doing great and meeting all of their milestones. They have, however, fallen off the growth curve in terms of weight. The pediatrician did not seem overly concerned about this, and mentioned that it was probably due to the fact that they NEVER STOP MOVING. EVER. So we left with strict instructions to bring on the whole milk, cheese, and butter and pile on some pounds.

On to home improvement news: As of this Friday, our house is ready to list! We have re-floored the basement bathroom, got all new kitchen appliances, re-roofed the house, reorganized the small army of toys that has invaded every room, and gotten rid of junk, junk, and more junk. It feels good.

There were many more shots like this, but honestly this was the only one I could find that didn't have any visible butt crack.

After shot of the bathroom

New kitchen stuff -- wish we could take it with us!

Ellie's room after toy-ectomy was performed

While I found treasures like my old glasses and retainer (which so does not fit anymore -- sorry, Mom and Dad!), Chris unearthed this gem from the late 80's. Yep, DC Talk.

It hasn't been all work for us. We have been out to enjoy the sporadic nice weather when possible. It's late winter in South Dakota at its finest -- today it's 25 degrees, tomorrow it will be 57, and then this weekend there will probably be a blizzard.

Hopefully I will have a little more time on my hands in the days ahead to be a better blogger. I promise I have loads of hilarious, heartwarming stories and pictures -- it's just the time to post them that eludes me.

Until then, enjoy the pheasant one more time.