Wayward Travelers

Hello from Brainerd! The kiddos and I are on the tail end of our 8-day stay at Grammie and Papa's while we're between houses. We have had a great time, visiting with all the grandparents and great-grandparents, seeing Scatteredtrees (my little brother Nate's band), and just hanging out. But boy, are we ever ready to not be living out of a suitcase anymore! It may take us a few days to dig out the box where the computer is currently living once we get into the house, so here's what we've been up to in a nutshell:

We visited the Little Falls Zoo yesterday afternoon. Can you see what our children's favorite animals were? Nope, not the Siberian tigers or timberwolves, not even the peacocks or cougars. They couldn't get enough of the prairie dogs -- practically the state animal of SD.




We have fun dressing up the boys in puppet clothes. I cannot take the blame for this one -- it was all Papa. You can see the fireman puppet next to Alex on the floor -- and can I just point out that even the fake fireman puppet has a mustache? Is that a requirement to be a fire dept. member, Papa?

My Aunt Julie, who cut my hair my whole childhood, came over and gave Ellie and Maguire a trim. Alex sadly took a pass on this one. We hope that maybe by this time next year he'll have enough hair to merit a trim.

Unfortunately, we were way too busy actually moving out of our old house to be bothered to take a single picture of our packing, UHaul loading, cleaning, or storage unit packing, so the majority of the last few weeks is undocumented. Here are a few random snapshots from April to tide you over until we get the computer up and running in Huron.

Ellie and all her friends from Wednesday night Rainbows at church.

Getting better at bike riding!

Happy Belated Easter!

And finally, a few clips of the boys walking. They are finally getting the hang of it -- we're in some serious trouble....

We're Still Alive!

T-minus 6 days and counting until we officially leave Sioux Falls! We are also happy to announce that the lovely home pictured above will be the place we call home in Huron. Yep, we finally found a house! And in just 30 short years, the bank says we can keep it! We are really excited about our new house -- it has three bedrooms on the main level, quite a bit more space than our current house, and is just a block away from a great playground! Can you tell we are a bit relieved about having a place to go by my excessive use of exclamation points?!

We are busy packing up the house in Sioux Falls -- we will be putting everything into storage temporarily because we don't close on our house in Huron until May 1st. So the kids and I are headed to Grammie and Papa's house for about a week after we close on our house here next Wednesday. Are you tired just reading all that? Me too. Add in the pink eye (both boys) floating around our house and my sprained foot (thanks again, Easter Bunny, for those new wooden building blocks!) and we're right in the middle of one crazy week! But seriously, my foot is feeling much better and I have only myself to blame since I'm the Easter Bunny around here.

I would post more pictures, but I've got to get back to the boxes. Plus, you don't really want to see the boys in all their crusty-eyed nastiness. I do, however, want to say belated congratulations to my friend Ryan and his wife Kristi on their new baby boys, Easton and Owen! Kristi is truly the superwoman of twin pregnancies -- she was on bed rest for over 4 months and carried those boys all the way to 37 weeks! So rather than subject you to my pink-eyed twosome, go check out their adorable new arrivals. Congratulations, Ryan, Kristi, and big sister Addyson!

Only in the Midwest

We spent a lovely afternoon at a local park last week. Temperatures were in the upper 40's, so Ellie decided to spend most of the time without a coat on. We were the only people at the park, so I pretty much just let the boys run (or crawl) wild all over the play equipment. Okay, so mostly they just ate wood chips, but they sure had a good time doing it! Here's Maguire with his new favorite trick (pointing) which is almost always accompanied by "Dis?"

Maguire also had a blast being pushed on the swings by Ellie.

Alex, not so much.....

Like I said, a lot of fiber was ingested that day.

After his traumatizing experience on the swings, Alex had a go at the slide with Ellie. As you can see, it went really well.

While Ellie and Alex took on the slide, Maguire made a new friend.

We are so glad that spring is almost here! -- if only we hadn't woken up THE NEXT MORNING to this sight. Ahh, Midwest living at its best.

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!