Camping...and other stuff

When we last left the Konrad family, they were on their way to a week full of work and camping!  Since even then, we've had family pictures, pumpkin gutting, and more sitting in stuff then we could imagine.  

Pic from our nature walk while camping.  Check out those noses.

Thug life.

The last couple of work weeks have been a bit of a blur.  It's parent-teacher conference time, so evening schedules are skewed and days grow long.  Just this last week, Katie and I traded almost every single evening because one of us had something or other.  We've also been preoccupied with the growing dilemma which is our treadmill breaking.  I've personally been using it a ton and with the colder weather (and my lack of experience running in colder weather), we were looking to replace it.  Kate was awesome in helping us find the one that currently occupies our workout space.  

Punkin walking.

So excited to Trick or Treat that he forgot his clothes (except his socks)

Cleaning pumpkins!

Last weekend, we went camping with Jen and Queño (Kate's sister and brother-in-law) and their baby girl, Elaina.  We'll have lots of pictures from that weekend.  Kate's friend, Kelly, also brought her son, Duncan out for some fun mud time.  It was hilly, we ate some Dutch oven food (sooooooo good), shot some arrows, and watched horses hang out.  

Elaina and my Myspace photo (message me if you forgot what Myspace is)

Elaina eating paper...don't worry...it's laminated.

Playing with Duncan.

Excited that my wife is learning the skills necessary to protect our habitat.

Daniel's first solo concerto.

Today we did some pictures for Kate's side of the family and we're really looking forward to seeing how they come out.  I got a couple over-the-shoulder shots, but the professional shots will look much better.  

Taylor's unphased.  That's focus, folks.

Getting buried by Grandpa.

More fun with Grandpa.

Daniel updates:  He's climbing like CRAZY!  Gets up and down so easily.  I'm still not comfortable with him descending the stairs, but he'll get there.  He's pretty good about not standing on furniture too.  Good thing for the future I hope...we won't let him watch Tom Cruise's appearance on Oprah because he's a bad influence regarding furniture jumping.  Daniel also is at this stage where he likes to sit in everything.  It could be as big as a laundry basket or as small as a can.  I have a collage below of all his random sittings.  Is this normal?  Do other kids do this?  Meh...anyways.  He's babbling like crazy still, walking quite steadily, and even running a bit.  What a great kid.

Climbing.

Happy (and a little curious...)

Enjoy some sitting pics!  

On the pot.

Daniel's bowling.

More sitting in stuff.  With his ducky of course.  That's water on his shirt.

Sitting in Grandpa's chair.

Sitting on the chair.

More sitting...

Fun With Bathing

Hi folks!  Not a whole lot of happenings this week.  It'll be heavier on the picture end than the story-telling.  Unfortunately, this time of year, my weekends limit my hanging out with Daniel and Katie.  Although I love my job, I certainly do look forward to some more free time in the coming weeks.  

Keeping me awake.  How rude.

We did have a blast today and some evenings this week just hanging out and playing.  Do you remember that game "Crazy Curtains' of which Daniel was so fond?  Well, he broke the curtain rod!  Ripped it right out of the wall.  Crazy curtains is no more.  Such is life.  It's all fun and games til' someone gets hurt...or something gets broken.  

Reading about the life of a caterpillar.

It's cooling off around here.  We've actually been throwing on the heat!  My good buddy, William (shout out!) asked me the other day, "Is it still hot up there??". It's been darn near freezing!  (PS:  Marching band is still happening and YES we still practice outside).  He's gotten soft though, living in Cali and Texas the past few years.  There, there buddy. 

I guess I'm glad he somewhat censored himself...

Kate's back was bothering her quite a bit (possibly from an accident last year) and she decided to break down and see a chiropractor (shout out to Gregg and Adam Hoogeveen).  In Kate's words, "they're not like hippies".  You know you're set there.  She's feeling a ton better though (80%).  That makes me happy.  

Drawing up a contract...not sure for what.

We had Jen and Queño over for the game last night (that's Kate's sister and brother-in-law).   It was tough to watch, but I enjoyed their company.  Their little Elaina is so very cute.  Katie also visited Zella briefly this week.  She really enjoyed herself and I enjoyed knowing she enjoyed herself.  These lil' babes seem so little compared to our Danielsaurus Rex.

Free falling!

We're going camping next weekend!  Sure to be some fun stories!

Alabama Food

That's right folks, while you were eating your corn in Nebraska, I was enjoying some southern comfort food in Alabama.  I'm just kidding.  I've had some pretty amazing food in the Cornhusker state, but there was an elderly woman down south who, after hearing me exclaim how much I was loving the food, stated, "Well, that's cause you don't get food like this up in Nebraska!".  I started to tell her about Runzas, but thought I better keep my mouth shut.  

Digital native right there.

Anyways, so I did spend a good portion of this week either on the road to/from or in Alabama.  As many of you read last week, my Poppy (excuse my spelling last week, I don't usually write it out) or my Grandfather on my mother's side, passed away on Easter and I went down with my family to honor his memory.  Everything from the memorial service to the honoring of his remains was quite beautiful.  I also got to see lots of relatives I had not seen for awhile and am ashamed that I did not take more...or any...pictures.  So, most of the pictures you will see below are from Katie.  Thank you all for the kind comments in regards to the loss of my Pop.  He truly was a great man and I'm proud to be his grandson.  

Daniel's Easter gift!

I don't have much to report in terms of Daniel except that he's standing up so quickly now and crawls like it is nobody's business.  Katie has a prediction as to when he'll be walking...what do YOU think?  My cousin has a 11-month old that is about the same size as Daniel and she's walking around like crazy.  It was so funny seeing her zoom around the room (nice rhyme).  Daniel, on the other hand, just...plops...around the room.  I'm beginning to think his rear-end has some natural type of cushion...I need to go easy on the ellipsis.

Playing with his buddy Duncan. 

Along with our time in Alabama, I spent a lot of time in the car.  We drove through Kansas, Mississippi (how many of you just spelt this either outloud or in your head?), Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Illinois, and Kentucky.  We took a different way there than we did back.  I should elaborate more on some food I had.  Because of our loss, many women brought over dishes for our family...oh...wow.   Chicken Casserole, Butter Beans, Macaroni and Cheese Casserole, Fried Chicken, Potato....Casserole, Rolls, TONS of Sweet Tea, Banana Pudding, Pie, Cake, Corn on the Cob, Ham...oh yum...It was so very tasty.  C'mon, Nebraska...ball's in your court.  On a side note (but not really) I also tried grits for the first time...the jury's still out, but I ate MOST of it!  I have a pretty wonderful Nana (grandmother) who made me breakfast every morning with bacon, egg, and sausage.  It was a joy spending so much time with her and the family (I think I was 32 more pounds though). 

Riding my head like a horsy. 

While I was gone, Katie unfortunately was single mom and had to take care of Daniel while preparing for a busy weekend with her sister's baby shower going on.  It sounds like it was a great success.  Boy, I bet Daniel's excited to have another cousin to hang with!  Welp, we launch into a busy week (for me at least) with District Music Contest and our annual Pancake Feed fundraiser on Sunday.  I might be a bit delayed with my update...but we'll see! 

Daniel's cousin right there..two actually =)

Happy 6 Months!

We gotta get a beard going on you, boy!

 
Well folks, believe it or not, our son Daniel was born 6 months ago (take away 2 days).  It's remarkable how much he has grown.  We had his 6 month checkup this past Thursday and here's the info:

Height:  28" (95th Percentile)
Weight:  19lbs 15.5oz (90th Percentile)
Head Circumference:  Equivalent to Magellan's trip around the world.  (80th Percentile)
Coolness:  Very (101st Percentile)

What a big dude!  Our doctor says that his growth now is no indication of how large he might be when he grows up, but I think he's on his way to being as big Yao Ming...if not as tall as Yao Ming, he'll definitely be a better English horn player.  (The preceding sentence can be deemed as random and should not be taken seriously.  If anything, it could and should be ignored and we ask that you move on to the below picture of not one, but two cute babies, albeit it is the same baby.  Thank you.)

Mirror, mirror on the wall.  Who makes the stinkiest diapers of all?

Things have been going pretty well this past week.  We certainly have our ups and downs with his nights, but he's been napping better for us on the weekend and we feel like we're making progress in the evenings.  Katie had to play single mom on Friday and Saturday morning because I was attending a convention in Lincoln, NE to learn how to become a better band teacher.  It sounds like she did a great job, but being away from Daniel for my first night was a little rough.  At least I knew he was in good hands!

Sleeping on the go.

Probably the biggest news this week for us (other than Snooki being pregnant) was that my wife and I bought a house!  It's a beautiful place and so close to where we live now that you can see it from our apartment balcony.  We had only started looking last Saturday and we're already set to close at the end of the month...so this month'll be a bit of a whirlwind.  We really wanted a neighborhood where Daniel could grow up with lots of kids around and while driving to our house last week, our car was stopped about 1752 times to wait for kids to cross the street...I think we'll be okay.  Thanks to all of you who have already offered to help.  We appreciate you and will compensate you through food and beverages.

Hey baby.

Shout out Jen Martinez, Kate's sister.  It's her birthday!  She'll have a baby of her own in a couple months.  They are not finding out the gender yet, so I'm pulling for a boy...or girl...but probably nothing else.  Kudos!

Get used to it, son.