Myles in time out.

For hiding behind the tree.............

.....and tipping it over!

He knows that little hands on the tree are not allowed. We actually saw him lick the tree this morning. Didn't get a picture of it. WhAt!?!?

The Nativity

This post is about our Nativity scenes we have in our home! I have an issue with getting the pictures exactly where I want them so this picture is first. I want it to be last! oh well. So here is Clayton's setup with the Little People Nativity. The baby Jesus is in the dump truck and notice the bulldozer and Transformer! Baby Jesus has also operated the combine!

The Nativity is by far my favorite to display at Christmas time! I actually just snuggled Clayton in to bed and we talked about his church Christmas program which is in the morning. I told him that I was looking forward to it very much as Christmas is not only about Santa, presents and food! Most importantly Christmas is about Jesus! I leave the Nativity up for quite some time after the holiday. My parents gave me this beautiful gift several years ago.

Clayton and Myles have the Little People Nativity. (which you have seen above:) )We love this so much! I have decided to make it our dining room table center piece this year. ......the little baby Jesus and one of the wise men might get mixed up with the many other toys being strung around the house! Myles enjoys the song, "Away in The Manger", that plays when the button on the top is pressed. I sing along and he dances :)

The Krummen Family 2010 Christmas Letter


"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).
Dear family and friends,
We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Our home looks like Christmas and it’s so fun. This year the decorating is a little different. The ornaments on the tree have been placed with love by Clayton and the lights have been rearranged several times by Myles. The tree did take a slight tip into the wall as Myles likes to hide behind it and play with the lights! Ugh! Upright! It’s so fun to place the special ornaments on the tree that our family has collected as gifts and those made by the hands of a preschooler.
The decorating has been limited indoors this year to our tree and the nativity as Myles is very curious. We have put a lit wreath on the front of our home in past years and this year decided to put lights on Clayton’s maple tree! We have no plans to compete with Clark Griswold.
Our family is busy and enjoying all that life offers us every day! Royce is slowing down and will hopefully be home for supper more often now until the ground thaws. I am enjoying my part-time job at the school as the nurse and preschool aide. The best part of my job by far is having the summer off with the boys!
We had so much fun this past summer going to the park, beach, pool, nature center, and enjoying our love for Monarch Butterflies. I know the best milk weed patches in the area! We collect the eggs and watch the entire cycle from egg to butterfly on the kitchen counter. After watching several caterpillars cycle, we have learned so much about them! We released a total of 20 Monarchs from spring to fall. We look forward to seeing the first generation of Monarchs arrive back to Iowa this spring!
Clayton is 5 years old and loves Preschool. He has also added dance/tumbling to his activities and loves it. He has grown in so many ways developmentally and we enjoy his playful and sometimes serious character. Farming continues to be one of his favorite activities but has decided that Lego’s and crayons are kind of nice too! He is an awesome big brother and often helps out with Myles. I have to laugh because sometimes if Myles is getting himself into a “situation”, Clayton decided that the best way to stop him is to push him over. I guess that is one way to slow him down!
Myles is 18 months and does find many “situations” that require some kind of intervention. He is happy, usually content, and a lot of fun! He is not afraid to climb on the kitchen table or afraid to eat dirt. He is also growing so quickly and we enjoy hearing many new words and watching him discover this wonderful world around him! He just might be the one who finds the way out of the crib himself!
We have made one snowman so far this winter and look forward to making many more! The sleds are waiting to be used and we are hoping to get Clayton to the ski slopes this winter! Oh! And as I type walleye are being filleted in my kitchen from the first of ice fishing. It’s best that I find something to occupy my mind until the fish is in the freezer. Not my favorite kitchen activity!
Blessings and much love to you and your family, Beth, Royce, Clayton, Myles http://krummen4.blogspot.com

The first blizzard of the winter! Saturday morning began with snow pellets and then lots of snow and wind! We were not going anywhere. It's fun to hang out without an agenda sometimes.

Royce ventured out several times to "see what is going on" and to plug in the equipment so that he could dig us out of this mess!

I decided to fold that basket of whites. You know the one. The one that sits waiting for a patient moment to try to make matches out of mess of socks!?!? Myles was trying to put socks on and I helped him out a little. What a goof. He was so happy to put Royce's sock on and he walked around the house chuckling about it for quite some time. Easy entertainment and it also distracted him from rolling around in my pile of laundry. Why do kids roll in piles of laundry like animals roll in...........well.........whatever! :) anyway............project done!

As you can see the boys are in pj's. All day !

Clayton loves to play firefighter. He had ventured outside a bit with Royce to play in the snow and came back inside with his goggles. He obviously found this shopping bag somewhere. The bag becomes the "air tank" for the firefighter. Not sure where the firefighter hat was but the Golden Harvest hat works well too! He was not wanting me to take his picture but you get the idea.. Clayton also spent a lot of time constructing with Lego's and watching "Fly Away Home". Great flick!

What else do the Krummen's do on a snow day!?

haircuts! I usually give them outside so that I do not have to deal with hair everywhere. That was not an option so Myles was put in the bathtub - don't worry...no water!- and for some reason I thought the #4 attachment would be a good choice on the clippers!?!?! Myles has a butch :P

Another day of fun!

This look is..........."Who did this?

My harmonica playing Myles! Sometimes both boys find harmonicas and we have quite the honky tonk gig going on at the Krummen household! Check out the one shoe on.

Myles insisted on having only one shoe on. He ran around laughing:)

SO FUN when the first sticky snow falls ! :) Clayton and I made this cowboy snowman ! He was talking "Marvin" here :)

Halloween

Disco Baby Firefighter eating his favorite treat at g'pa Bruce and G'ma Jeri's - a kiss !

Halloween is always fun. In school the kids dress up in costume of what they want to be when they grow up .. Last year AND this year Clayton was a Firefighter ! We will see if his career choice changes next year. His firefighter costume from last year still fit . We kind of knew that since he digs it out and wears it throughout the year :) Once-and-awhile there are important fires to fight in our home !

On Trick-or-Treat night in Lake Park I offered Clayton a tie-dye shirt and a disco wig! I thought he may like to dress in theme with his brother. He was not as amused as I was and stuck to being a firefighter. He really is a great firefighter :) Just thought I would see what I could get out of him ! In past years Clayton was a Tomato and a Chicken. They were really unique costumes which he proudly wore without protest. I looked for the tomato pix and didnt come up with it.......here is the chicken. Yikes! Even got a picture behind the gate like he was in a cage !

It was a great costume! as was the tomato ! Darn where is that picture ?! Somewhere I found this great idea to transform large sweatshirts into costumes. The tomato was a large red sweatshirt and the cut off sleeve was the hat. He even wore red tights. Here as you see, the large white sweatshirt became the chicken with feather boa and don't miss the cut off sleeve as the hat ! you can't see in this picture but there are red......what do you call those things!?!......red "bumps" on the top! CUTIE PATOOTIE !!!! The sweet costumes are packed away for possible reappearances by his brother :)

I had fun with him while I could get by with it!

The chicken was 3 years old.......now he is 5 and smart enough to know he can protest !

Poor Poor Myles :O I could NOT resist this costume. He makes a really great Disco Baby I must say ! The wig was not his favorite and came off every time we got back into the car seat. If he was walking around or distracted the wig stayed on very well !

He has no clue.....no clue at all.

Someday he will protest, until then, his mother will choose ~ The tomato costume is an option for next year. We will have to see ?

Tonight, I feel the need to blog about Myles and his hats! It seems like every time we turn around he has some kind of hat on his head. Or a Tupperware bowl! A nice surprise sometimes when we walk back to his room and find him just hanging out with something on his head! One night he even crawled out into the living room with a hard hat on........and the light on the front of it was even turned on. How in the world did he turn that on !?!?! Here are a few pictures of Myles. with hats.

Note the little chairs in our living room. Myles loves to climb up on chairs and we had to bring out the kid size chairs to keep him from climbing on the big people chairs ( which the poor little fella has to go to time out for as he has been on the kitchen table once! yikes! )

Big Brother Clayton is often my referee helper, "MOM! he is climbing on the chairs!".

As I sit here and think about the many hats Myles wears I can't help but to think a

bout the many "hats" we all wear everyday!

Oh! He has been walking for a while now............and starting to run!

Very exciting!

Today the boys and I decided to take a trip to a pumpkin patch north of Lakefield, MN. We have never been there before! Royce was combining (which I have not blogged about yet!) so we loaded up the car for an adventure. We had better enjoy the fall weather every chance we get !

After lunch, fresh air, pumpkin picking, trike racing etc. etc. , we all crashed for a little afternoon snooze! :) It was a fun trip !

Then, there was a farming plan for after supper. Clayton phoned Papa Steve and arranged to co-pilot his combine. Myles and mom rode with Royce in the other. This was Myles' first combine ride. I didn't have my camera. The boys both had a GREAT time and I think the combine operators enjoyed the company! Clayton even got a CB exchange with Royce....over-and-out......1 more round............ok............2..................10-4! :)

Clayton enjoyed harvest with Papa Bruce and Uncle Tim earlier in the week and even got to make a trip to the elevator in the semi truck. The new work boots are getting dirty and now we have even more laundry ! The combine, tractor/catch cart, and semi have come out of the toy box. The farming happens on the kitchen table. Myles is not invited to farm yet !

The grand finale news: Myles is walking (and climbing up on chairs and on tables if allowed) yikes !

Happy Fall Y'all !

Clayton loves to do somersaults on the trampoline !

Myles tries really really hard !

It won't be long......

These boys crack me up :)

And we have two boys enjoying the rides at Arnold's Park. I have to laugh because Myles neither appeared to love or hate the fish. He just rode with this look on his face and peered around. What a hoot. Clayton owned the place with his cousins and I think he and Marie rode in every car of the rollercoaster!

We now have two boys riding John Deere tractors in the driveway.

Clayton is pretty knowledgeable about farming and equipment. He loves it so much. Every single day when Royce comes home from work they have a "meeting". "So ! what did you do today, Dad?" Royce explains his day, Clay intently listens to every word and asks for further explanations about everything ! Who was doing what and what was broken and how was it fixed and so on ! oh and we can't forget about the whereabouts of the events. The shop ? Which field? etc. These "meetings" last anywhere from ten minutes to a half hour. I just so happen to catch the above "meeting" on camera. Clay pulled up his lawn chair and donned Royce's work hat and glasses. The meeting was called to order and serious business was discussed !

Clayton also started preschool ! For some reason my memory card from my camera tells me that it contains no images. The first day of school photo was lost :( He loves it- more next time.

OK. Here is my 5 year old! I often ask him how he got to be so big and he says, "I don't know, I just did!". I will ask him again tomorrow! :) This picture is so great because it is the cute serious face and "I'm so big" face. I love him.

Clayton. My big boy. The minute he woke up this morning he asked to play with Lego's. He built and played all day taking breaks to eat, nap, and go to his first eye exam appointment. It's dark and he is still building.......

I love the vehicle above. It was so many things today: garbage truck (in the pix), hay thrower?, a DNR, 90, bus for the famous TV family of 19, ARCO hay truck.....and a few other unknown. The role playing is so great. I love to sit back and listen to him play with the little people! The imagination of a 5 year old. Very cool.

Clatyon Krummen Stats:

5yrs old

47 pounds

441/2 inches tall

20/30 vision in right and left eyes as of his checkup today
will probably be wearing eye glasses in the future

and growing like a weed


loves to farm, farm, and farm!


almost always turns away a coloring book


funny


just started flossing his teeth


looks great in a butch haircut


loves pizza and spaghetti


orders around his brother
hugs his brother a lot



knows farming equipment by make and model numbers


loves to play in the garden hose


keeps his mom's flower planters well-watered


rides his bike and scooter


helps his dad a lot outside


loves to watch movies in the tent outside


planted a tomato plant in the middle of the backyard


sweet


sensitive


sometimes cautious


snuggles


loves the word poop


excited to start preschool 5 days a week
a lolly-gagger
farter around er
fiddly flounder



big


too big


too smart
just told me that he speaks Spanish !

too fun!








Clayton has had a wonderful summer and he is so much fun! I had already typed a plethora of actives from the summer and somehow accidentally deleted them ! I suppose this is enough already for today.


so. enough fiddling around from me..................

Mr. Myles

I decided to grab my camera and take some pictures of the boys today and THIS is the pose I get from Myles ! What a cheeseball ! I have no idea where this came from but Clayton and I were about rolling on the floor laughing about this :) So we will see what kind of pictures we get of Myles in the near future. He may choose to pose this way for awhile !?!

So along with this I will share current Myles stats.

14 months- 3 weeks
26 # 5 oz
32 inches ( he had a well-baby check Monday)
taking full advantage of mom carrying him around
crawling on all 4's very fast
conversing with babble several times back and forth
Dada, uh oh, Bababa, occasional mama, hi and some others
loving avocado
hating green beans
sleeps well although continues to awake once for a quick slurp and snuggle- ARG !
happy
smiley
ticklish
funny
goes-with-the-flow
climbs on little chairs
climbs in his walker
climbs out of his walker
pushes his walker around
stands on the walker ,pushes the music button and dances
sucks his thumb
talks on the phone
gets wrestled, bonked, pulled on, pushed , swifted! (yes, with the sweeper), and
who knows what else from his loving big brother :)
growing up happy and healthy !

Myles does most anything any other 1 year old does :) I was joking with a friend today about how we train our kids to do "circus tricks". We really do this !!! On demand, "pat-a-cake", "so big", "wave". Then we reward them with lots of cheers and smiles :) And then I put a bowl with a few cheerios in front of him on the floor occasionally for a quick snack ! For a moment I thought it was strange. Maybe it is ?

Babies are fun and so sweet. Time passes so quickly and this ring master of a mom is soaking up every moment with these boys !

Next up. Big boy, Clayton !

ok! yay! ( I am having my ah-ha moment that I am on the right track here !?!? ) One boy in bed fast asleep, and the other boy is out playing with the garden hose with Royce. I have a couple minutes to continue on with my new venture here ! I set up this blog page earlier in the day..........

Welcome to the Krummen 4 blog site ! I hope that we can share many joys with you :) I like the idea of keeping a journal but my pen has not been moving. So I am going to try blogging !

check back soon !