BEFORE AND AFTER

While Mike was in Roswell for work, my parents came over to help me (actually they did all the work) with a couple of projects. First was the kitchen floor- new peel-and-stick tiles. Sprocket was saying her last goodbyes as the outdated vinyl floor was getting covered up.
Joshua wanted to be in on the action. He followed grandpa around everywhere and got in the way quite a bit. He was fascinated by everything that grandpa did.
The last piece! I did help a little.

Next was taking out the carpet in the living room and hallway. Lauren got in the way this time. I'm amazed at how much energy my parents have to get jobs like this done.

The dogs really enjoyed having grandparents around too. Grandma is their favorite because she is so fun to cuddle with!

Thank you so much grandma and grandpa for coming out and doing my home improvement projects for me! Love you!!

POM POMS AND PACHYDERM

I took Lauren to "The Night of the Living Zoo" at Sedgwick County Zoo this year. It was pretty fun. Lauren was surprised that we were at the zoo when it was dark. Since it was dark, the only exhibit they had opened was the amphibian house which Lauren ran through with excitement! We got some candy and played games, saw a fire truck and walked through an ambulance. She really had a great time!

We also went to the ward trunk-or-treat this year for our Halloween celebrations. Our Chargers Cheerleader, Lauren tackles the cake walk.

Our little elephant, Joshua, enjoys the action from his stroller.
(and NO he is NOT Dumbo)
Mike and I did not get to dress up this year - had too many things going on and ran out of time to plan one of our own.

420 DOG YEARS

We celebrated Grandpa's 60th birthday. He got Halloween cupcakes and one gift.

Yep -just one!

Lauren helped decorate the birthday/Halloween cupcakes with sprinkles. She was so excited to get one so she could lick the frosting and sprinkles off.

The ONE gift that grandpa got was a book. All six of his kids wrote down a handful of memories of dad which were compiled in this book with photos of the family throughout the years. He loved it! He opened it, flipped through and looked a few of the pictures and started to cry. Then he went back and started to read some of the stories and more tears and laughter came. I guess grandma read it to him again while they were driving home to Colorado and they both were crying and laughing. I'm so glad that he enjoyed it so much! Hopefully he will have similar reactions each time he picks it up to read it.

Love you Dad! So glad that you've been here for 420 dog years!

CHEESE

So, after the photo shoot in August, Lauren finally understands what it means to "smile for the picture" but instead of a sweet little smile, this is what I've been getting... Rar!
This one was taken as she RAN past the camera.

I even tried to isolate her by putting her on the kitchen counter.

And here she is actually biting into a block of cheddar cheese! Yummy!

How do you get a 2 year old to slow down???

I don't think it's possible in Lauren's case.

CLOTH DIAPERS

Well, here they are - our cloth diapers. It took me long enought to get these photos up. Sheesh! They are made from microfiber fleece, microfiber terrycloth and PUL (waterproof fabric). The white thing sticking out of the top of this diaper is the insert which I pulled partially out for this picture. It's quite absorbent alone and we sometimes put 2 inserts in for ultimate absorbency. We LOVE these diapers! They are adjustable to the size of your baby - thus the reason for so many snaps. Lauren is actually in the same size as Joshua right now because her tushy is so small! They are easy to clean and comfy for the kids. So glad we spent that crazy week in Colorado making so many!

STANDING

Joshua is one ambitious kid! He wants to keep up with Lauren and the dogs, so he started standing up at the end of September. Here was his first triumph - by the dog food. He usually likes to eat the dog food, but thankfully he only used it to help him stand this time. Peeking in on Lauren during bath - he just stood there and laughed because he was so excited!
Helping mommy with laundry by pushing the laundry basket far away... such good help!

ON THE MOVE

Our little man started his attempts at crawling around 7 month old. Here are his some of his first cool moves... that we remembered to take pictures of...Up close and personal. We love this little face!

WELCOME TO KANSAS

We were so happy to see the Klingler family in Colorado, but it's always nice to get back home too. You may think that I'm strange for saying that after you see the following pictures...

The kids were pretty good travelers for the most part. Lauren enjoys making Joshua laugh, then they both get laughing and it's pretty sweet.

This was photo taken just a few minutes before the next two.

Along I-70 through Kansas, we noticed they sky was all of a suddent getting dark. This picture doesn't really give it much justice, but on the south side of the road, the clouds were glowing bright yellow. We thought it was very pretty - then we turned to look on the north side of the road...
This is what was happening on the north side of the road. It was pretty windy and it looked like a tornado was trying to form - nothing happened, but it was a bit scary. Thankfully this did not turn into a tornado and we made it out of the storm area before we were pelted too hard with rain and hail. It was nice to get back to Kansas. :o)

NAOMI'S HOME!

Hermana Naomi Klingler returned from her mission to the Morristown New Jersey Spanish-speaking mission on September 1st. We were so excited to have her home! She was her normal self talking a mile-a-minute and smiling all the time! It was so great! We only had one day with her and then we had to leave to get back home.

Waiting at the Colorado Spring airport for Naomi's arrival.

We brought the kids along for the exciting return of Aunt Naomi.

(Her flight arrived at 10:15pm)

The WAY cuter Naomi returning from serving 18 months in New Jersey. Where's her bachpach?? Oh wait - it's on her back!!

At the park with the family.

All the sisters! Emily flew out and surprised us all! It was wonderful to see her. Wish Jake could've come too. Hopefully we can all get together sometime soon.

DIAPERS

Diapers! Diapers! Diapers!
We worked countless hours on these cloth diapers. We snapped thousands of snaps, broke 2 sewing machines and 1 serger machine and used miles and miles of thread on these. I have not taken up-close pictures of them yet, but will soon and will add it to this post.

Mom working on inserts and Natalie doing top-stitching.
Trudy and I working on snaps.
(We both hated this picture, but it was all I had- sorry Trudy!)

In the end, we made close to 180 diapers and I don't know how many inserts- more than 180. It was a HUGE project, but well worth it. We LOVE our cloth diapers!

TO COLORADO!

We decided to make a trip to Colorado to make cloth diapers. Lauren, Joshua and I flew out and a week later, Mike drove out with the dogs to meet us. During that week we had lots of diaper-making and grandpa had lots of fun running the two older kids around and wearing them and himself out.

Grandpa loaded up the wagon and took the kids to the park on the first day we were there. Natalie, Italo, Trudy and Jeremiah had already been there for a week or longer by the time we got there.
One of the few times that they weren't fighting.

Grandpa stuck these kiddos in this fun buggy and pushed them around the backyard.

The dogs got a turn in the buggy too.

We love Grandpa (and Grandma too)!!

NEW PICTURES

We FINALLY got pictures taken of the kids in August. It was such a great picture day for them. Both were happy and Lauren was smiling from ear-to-ear all day!

Joshua is 6 months old and Lauren is 2 years old.

UMMM... CAKE!!

I was getting ready to go to the store to pick up a few grocery things I was needing. So, wanting to include Lauren in the shopping experience, I asked her what else we should get when we went to the store. She replied, "ummm.... CAKE!" I thought it was so funny that I HAD to get cake - well, cupcakes. I decided to take her shirt off and let her eat this blue-frosted cupcake right before her bath that night.

SITTING & EATING

Shortly after we got home from our trip to Wyoming, Joshua started sitting on his own. He was so excited and proud of himself when he could balance himself.

He also started eating rice cereal. He LOVED it! He was practically shoving the spoon down his throat out of excitement of getting to eat food.

EXHAUSTED!

No explanation for this one - it's just cute!

BONGIOANNI VISIT

My sister's family was moving to Florida in July and we were lucky to be a stop on their way to their new destination. Italo and Lauren played together and Vinnie and Natalie stayed up way too late visiting with us. We loved having them here - even though it was only one night!

COTTON CANDY

We rented a cotton candy machine in hopes of making good memories for the kids. My grandpa owns a cotton candy machine and he gets it out everytime we have a reunion. So, I hoped that all the kids would enjoy it like I did when I was a kid - I still enjoy it!
Who can resist cotton candy? William and Kate couldn't resist.

Yummy! Jordyn, Lauren and Kate enjoy some cotton candy time on the porch.