Molli in her new tutu and suing her Bella Dancerella set 

Her cake made by the awesome Mindy Hubbard 

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we set up Mom and Dad's tree, which is huge as usual. The kids had a great time helping put on the ornaments and hear the same stories I used to hear as a child about each ornament. We made very sure that Sydney was kept away from the 100 year old christmas bulb :) IT was a great time of being surrounded by family. Then on Sunday, we dedicated Thomas. It was marvelous to have him surrounded by his family, my parents and siblings, my aunt and her daughter, my grandma, and Matt's sister. My dad started out by sharing why his name is Thomas, in honor of my granfather. He lost it and so we all were crying. It was rough knowing that he wasn't there. But the rest was beautiful. My dad sprinkled water on his head to symbolize the anticipation of his acceptance of Jesus and baptism. Then he put a small bit of salt on his tongue to symbolize when he would be salt and light to this world. It was so nice. I forgot to ask someone to tkae pics during the event, darn it. But here we all are afterwards...



Then Sunday was Molli's birthday as well. She had a great birthday and below are some pics of that. I can hardly beleive that she is 6.

Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! You know the drill. Highlight, copy, and paste (not forward) and change my answers to your answers.

Be sure to send back to me. Enjoy!! Everyone has time for a few moments of fun! Don't be a scrooge!!!

Name: Mandi
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Huh? Who the heck doesn't wrap gifts???
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White outside, colored on the tree
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put your decorations up? The week after Thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Mom's cheesecake
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: My mom and dad would hide clues throughout the house to lead us to our big present
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't ever really remember believing in Santa
9. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? Just one, it's usually new pajamas to wear that night
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Lights and ornaments. I've gotten an ormanent every year since I was little and have carried that on with our kids
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it till half way through January
12. Can you ice skate? Yes
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Wow, that's a hard one...I always get such great gifts
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Watching people open the gifts I've gotten them
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Mom's cheesecake
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Man, we have so many! I guess making the kids wait until 7 AM to come down and then they can only have their stockings. We have to eat breakfast before beginning presents. And then we open them one at a time, from youngest to oldest.
17. What tops your tree? Angel
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Little Town of Bethelehem
20. Candy Canes? Yuck, except for the Starburst ones

Well well....what to write about?

I hope all of your Thanksgivings were wonderful. We had a rather stress filled day. It started when my dad was talking to my brother who is serving in Iraq. They were chatting via instant messenger and Tigger told him that he was being sent into Baghdad for a few weeks. If you'll remember this was the day that so many people died in that city. So that was very rough for us emotionally. Then Sydney proceeded to spray lens cleaner all over my father's new laptop computer. Major stress....thankfully, it was easily taken care of. Not to mention the fact that Grandpa wasn't there. It was odd, I expected to walk into the other room and see him watching football with my dad, or walk into the kitchen and see him poring over the turkey. Everything just seemed slightly off. I've spent nearly every Thanksgiving since I can remember with him. It certainly made the day a little tougher. That night we watched the video from his funeral. It brought many a tear and a few smiles. Man, I miss him!

On to happier things, this weekend is fun filled. My cousin Holly is flying in and we are going to get my mom and dad's big tree and put it up. Molli's birthday is this weekend as well which just gives us an excuse to eat cake :) Then on Sunday we are dedicating Thomas at church. I'm so excited about this, he'll be so surrounded by family who love him and will help him grow in the Lord. Plus my Aunt Carol is letting me use the christening gown that my Uncle Tommy wore...another Thomas Michael. That is so special to me. I'll be sure to take pictures of that great day.

Alright well Laundry beckons...till then.....

I haven't written anything in so long....guess it's time!

We're doing well in Battle Creek. Matt just finished a week of vacation where we just bummed around, did some Christmas shopping, got some projects done around the house and just generally enjoyed him being home. We're gearing up for Thanksgiving which promises to be a good time. The kids are so glad to have a few days away from school.

So other random things...

This morning as I am sitting here typing I hear yelling from upstairs. I knew Sydney was playing up there and so just kept an open ear. Soon I hear the yell get more frantic but I can't make out what she is saying. So I head upstairs to find her dangling from the bunkbeds, in clear distress. However, what she was yelling made me laugh so hard I had to catch my breath before rescuing her. "Ayudeme! Ayudeme!" For those of you non Dora/Diego watchers that means Help me in Spanish! I was laughing so hard. Thomas is getting bigger by the minute I think. He's gotten so chubby and so I've decided that I don't need to go to the gym as I can just so several reps of lifting him and be good to go. He's entered the cooing/smiling phase which I just love. We've been trying and trying to get a pic of him smiling but with our digital camera but by the time it takes the shot, he's done. But Matt finally got this one last night.....



Anyway, other than "doing life", we're god....happy Thanksgiving you all!!

This is what happens when you leave your 7 year old alone with your camera....





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Right now I am crouched in the computer chair. As I was in the kitchen, I noticed the cats chasing something. IT'S A MOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I am terrifed of mice! So now I am terrified to go in to the kitchen, Thomas is sleeping in my bedroom which I can only access through the kitchen...what am I going t do when he awakes?????? SOMEONE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darth Vader and his dragon take a break 

Princess Emma 

Dragon Sydney 

Go Molli go!! 

our spooky crew 

Well I survived.....barely :) Just kidding. Thomas finally settled down and I was able to determine that he was reacting to things I had eaten, guess I kind of went braindead about nursing there for a while! We had a great weekend with my grandma and aunt who were visiting from New York.

This week my mom and dad are on vacation so we are camping out at their house taking care of Noah. It's nice to be able to help out.The kids are so excited about being able to sleep over at Grandma's on school nights. I'm excited about sleeping in Grandma's big bed!!

Here are some pics from this weekend....and some new pics of Thomas for Kenny!!


Aunt Lisa and Noah


Noah got a hold of my camera and took over 100 pictures including about 30 of Molli

Emma playing




My little man


Our Chip

It started out well. Wednesday night Thomas slept five hours in a row. You remember those days?? First you freak out, thinking that something must be wrong with them, you check their breathing, etc. I was so thrilled. Of course I geared myself up for this to be a permanent thing. First mistake.....

Last night he did the normal 2 hour routine till 3:30....he refused to go back to sleep. Nor was he content to let me sleep. I tried for an hour to get him back to sleep....no luck. So I got up, changed him, swaddled him and put him in the swing. he konks out. Of course, now I am awake. Fast forward...now it's 10 PM and I've been up for 16 hours. Thomas is hysterically crying, nothing I try is working. Matt is in
Grand rapids and I am losing it....

Time for a real post I suppose...

Not too much going on in the Kurtz home. Matt is in Grand Rapids for the week for work so I am experiencing single parenthood. And let me just say, hats off to those of you who do this full time or have husbands who are away for long periods of time. Ugh. Even going to bed is hard.....

I had my 6 week postpartum checkup today. Can you all believe it's been 6 weeks already? Nothing like a pap smear to get your day going :) No matter how many times I have that done, it's so embarrassing. Ah well.

ok....what else. hmmmm....nothing. Wasn't that exciting??

If there's no tractor at the pumpkin patch, use grown ups!!


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Emma and Thomas 

Sleepy boy 

Wait mom, I'm not ready! 

Thomas and I shopping in Saugatuck 

the view from the top 

These were steps built into the side of this mountain, I climbed it...holy cow! 

Well alas, the weekend was not what I had hoped for. We left Friday morning, despite the snow and went shopping which was very fun and freeing to be out and feel like a grown up. Even though Thomas was strapped to my chest :) He was so very good until we got to the camp. Then he decided that he did NOT like being away from home. He was very fussy all evening which made my quiet times impossible. God was on the move however and taught me things that I didn't see until later. Thomas cried for most of the night (my deepest apologies to those of you who were in our room!!) so Saturday was exhausting. He refused to let me put him down for more than 5 minutes at a time. So my personal times were spent just keeping him quiet so everyone else could commune with the Lord. The camp was beautiful though and we did have a wonderful time despite the obvious. Truly, there were times when I laughed harder than I think I ever have. Good memories.

Back to life though....here are some newer pics of Thomas....because I know you guys never get sick of those..lol.

Today is the 12th of October...the 12th. This means that my baby boy is one month old today. I can hardly believe it's been a month already, where does the time go???

We awoke to snow this morning, actually I awoke to the phone riniging. I answered groggily and heard Christmas music blaring through the phone. My family has this tradition of blaring Christmas music when it snows for the first time. Actually playing any Christmas music is absolutely forbidden until the first snow, according to my father. Too bad for him that it snowed on the 12th of October!!! The kids were convinced that it was a snow day and they needed to make snow angels in the .000125 inches that was on the car!! However,I must eat crow when Molli gets home as I told here that surely we wouldn't get enough for it to stick. Well we now have roughly 3 inches on the front lawn....ah well!

Tomorrow morning I get to escape. We're having a ladie's prayer retreat this weekend. We're going to a camp in Saugatuck, MI which is right on Lake Michigan. I'm so excited. We're leaving first thing in the morning and shopping all day before the retreat starts. Matt got the days off so I can go. I have such a sense of anticipation for this event. I think God has big things in store. PLus, this is the first time I've been away in quite a while. Although, Thomas is coming with me. But he just sleeps anyway. Think God will mind if I breastfeed while praying?? :)

Here comes Emma's bus so off I go.....

After my last depressing post, I decided we needed a little happiness. So here's some pics of our trip to the corn maze/ pumpkin patch last night. What a blast, definetly one of the best things about falL!!


Create Your Own!

Alright, will someone please tell me when it gets better??? When do my emotions go back to normal? When will he sleep for more than 1 1/2 hour stretches at night?? When will my boobs stop hurting??? (sorry, that was slightly graphic!) Sorry, just feeling slightly tired and it appears to be affecting many things.....

Yesterday was awful. I had braced myself for it and yet it still hit me like a ton of bricks. My brother left yesterday for Iraq. He's going to be there for 14 months. I thought I had dealt with it, however, I lost it. First, I missed his last call so I didn't even have a chance to say good-bye which broke my heart. Then he left me a message telling me he loved me and he would be in contact as soon as he could. I just wept. All I could think about was him getting on that bus, watching his wife and four children out of the window as he drove away, not knowing when he would see them again, knowing that he would miss a year and a half of their lives.....made my sadness seem obsolete. However, he's my brother. The one I grew up with. We're 14 months apart...even though there was a time where we didn't speak, he never stopped being my big, little brother. And thinking of his wonderful family, without him for so long. And they are so far away in Alaska, I can't even offer to help. So if you all think of it, will you remember my brother, Tigger? We're praying for his protection, not just physical, but emotional and spiritual as well. Iraq seems to be such a dark place spiritually and being away from accountability and Christian friends....also, having to deal with the fact that he might have to take someone else's life....I can't imagine wrapping my mind around that one. Plus he is a sergeant, so he has men underneath him. When I asked him if he was scared his answer was yes. He said he was most afraid of losing one of his men or a friend. I asked him if he was scared about not coming back, he replied no. He knew where he was headed so that was not fearful for him at all. Sorry, my thoughts are so jumbled right now...

It's amazing to me that you can blink and days sweep past you. This never fails to hit me on the kid's birthdays....you stop and wonder when they stopped wearing diapers, stopped eating random non-food items, stopped needing you every second. but it's never more real to me than when I have an infant. The first weeks of their little lives fade together and before you know it they are two weeks old. The last two weeks I was pregnant lasted an eternity and yet, as soon as he was born, I blinked and now it's already been two weeks! His looks are already starting to change, from the newborn preciousness into the adorable infant. And somehow it's sad to me....a deep realization that time waits for no man.

Life continues to press on, we've gotten quite accustomed to getting everyone up and out of the door for school every day. Life seems to be settling into a pattern, which is somewhat comforting. I spent nine months waiting for this month to be here and now it's come and gone. Sunday it will be October.....good grief.

Here are a few more pics of my little man, you guys are going to get very tired of looking at pictures of my son, I can tell :)


Here's Syd...looking very bored by holding her brother



My sweet boy


Jonah, who still tells me every day how awesome it is to have a brother




And for something a little different, our kitties latest hang out spot, a gift bag!

All clean and snuggling with Daddy 

His first bath 

Thomas and his bink 

Emma building