we've voted and...

...agreed unanimously that Evie has the BEST nap hair.

For Nathan and Ana

As of Thursday, October 30, 2008, at just about 8pm CST, my little brother Nathan Robert Kveene is ENGAGED!!!
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The funny thing is, I've never even met the girl. Nonetheless, I like her. Her name is Ana Johnson. My dad, mom and sister have all met her and use the word "sweet" consistently to describe her.
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Nathan met her at the Moody Bible Institute, where he graduated in May. Ana graduates this Spring. I think the first time he saw Ana he held the door open for her and liked her immediately. My mom said the thing that struck him about her was her smile - I can see why from the pictures =). So, he bid his time for a while and finally told her floormates that he liked her. They then set her up for a blind date with him. Nathan felt bad that he knew who she was and she didn't know who she was going on this date with so the introduced himself to her - the first time he met her. He went to her table at dinner and said, "Ana? I'm the GYFAD [Give Your Friend a Date]." She said, "Oh, I've never seen you before!" Stab through the heart. Yeah, Nathan had liked her for so long and she didn't even know he was alive. =) So, they got to know eachother after that...then they got together 9 months ago and it's been going very well, obviously. Thursday was exactly 2 years ago that he introduced himself to her. =)

Nathan and Ana were originally "planning" on getting engaged at Thanksgiving when he would be visiting her for Thanksgiving in the UP of Michigan where she's from. But Terry and I convinced him it would be much more exciting for him to do it as a real surprise. So he flew out Thursday and included her friends in the planning. He never even lied to her when she called him and asked him what he was up to that day. He had told her that he got Thursday and Friday off from work and that he was going to use the time to work on the youth group dinner he was planning for Sunday (that he wouldn't be attending, but he didn't mention that to her =)). He went to internet cafes at airports and updated his facebook to say true things, even if they were a little misleading... She asked what he was up to and he told the truth; drinking coffee and reading at a coffee shop, eating lunch at McDonald's b/c it was the closest thing. He turned off his phone when he got to Chicago and told my parents not to answer their phone just in case she called so no one had to lie. And she did. He hung out in his old roomie's room at Moody until it was time to go. What a sneaky boy! Have to give him credit.

So, the engagement plan. It was one of Ana's friends birthday this week and so they planned to all go out for hot chocolate and then to a nearby park that they like (would this be the infamous "make-out park" Nathan?). Upon learning of their birthday plans, Ana told Nathan that she had more memories w/him at this park... He he he. Exactly. This is where Nathan came in. He got there early and ran around for a half hour lighting candles over and over. Then he got a quick phone call (w/no exchange of words) from her friend which was the signal that they were like 5 minutes away. Nathan said his heart rate increased significantly - like 180 beats per minute. That's FAST.

So Ana and her friends got to the park and saw that there were lit candles set up. Ana said, "I don't think we're supposed to be here - it looks like someone is going to gonna get engaged tonight." Yeah, can you believe that? HA!!! Of course, they snickered a bit under their breath and walked further in. Nathan stepped out. When Ana spotted him, she just stopped and stared for a while before going over to him. After a hug, he told her that that day (October 30th) was exactly 2 years since they met. He then got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" This part is great. She said, "And..." Nathan: "And, I LOVE YOU!" Ana: "YES!"

This is significant b/c Nathan had never told Ana that he loved her before. Can I hear a collective AWWWWWW! How sweet is that?!

Her friends were behind them taking a few pictures so I'll soon have access to them (very soon I hope).

Nathan even said he was glad that he got to talk to me so much through this whole process. I thought that was sweet b/c I sooooo wanted to be involved, especially since I'm so far away and have never met Ana! Thanks Nathan. I had a great time helping, and brainstorming and supporting. I'm so freaking excited. And I'm sorry that I gave a little bit away to Ana with all my facebook status updates saying how excited I was. "Eva is excited for Friday...but I can't say why! Moo ha ha ha!" (b/c I thought it was going to happen on Friday), "Eva can hardly contain her excitement...just ask Terry," "Eva can't wait can't wait can't wait." Man, I just could hardly contain myself. Terry even made me erase another status update Thursday night where I said that "THE event should be happening right now...did you figure it out yet Ana?" b/c he said there was a possibility something would go wrong and she would see it. Gulp. I'm guilty. I erased it.

Anyway, I can't wait to meet her! Here are some photos of the two of them.

Here's the ring! He found it in Rapid City and thought of Ana right away. I really like it. Can't wait to see it on her hand for I real.

Here is the front of the card Noah and I made and sent for Ana (and Nathan - he asked me what the card said and I told him he would find out when he reads it over her shoulder...he liked that idea a lot). It's meant to go with Noah's daily "lessons." I heard she likes kids so I hope she likes it!

Inside

Behind.

Here is our letter-of-the-day coloring sheet from Wednesday. Noah said the letter "R" was the letter on Sesame Street (I had just missed it). After I drew my Ring, I thought I would attempt to convey the idea of marriage to Noah and drew a picture of the engagement b/w Nathan and Ana. I got really excited when I told him Ana would be his new auntie. I don't know if he understood the marriage thing, but perhaps a new auntie made more sense. And now he can say that Nathan is gonna give Ana a RING.

Here's the back.

Here's baby Nathan at me (4) and Stephanie's (2) birthday party. He would have been like 3 and 1/2 months old. Looks a lot like mini-me. =)

Here's toddler Nathan playing in Gramma Ardis' turning cupboard.

Here is Nathan before me and Terry's wedding, June 19, 2004.

Nathan at college with worms coming out of his face...um, they're really pretzels.

Ana posing at their date night.

Eeeee. How cute are they?!

Home sweet home in the Black Hills.

Nathan pretending to be a human...or is it pretending to be a monkey, I'm confused? These last few are from Stephanie and Nathan's trip to Chicago to visit Ana at the end of September.

Weak water fight.

A park near Lincoln Park Zoo.

Playing in the fountain at Daily Plaza.

aMAZEing

So here are just a few shots from last night's Maze at Darwin's church. (*This is the same church that Terry and the youth group went to Utah with in July for Challenge, the national E-Free conference...you know, where his backpack was stolen*). Terry came home last night and said driving all the kids out there was good practice for Dare to Share in February... There was about 40 junior highers that went and almost as many high schoolers. They took like 7 vehicles for the jh's and 5 for sh's. Terry meant that since we don't have a charter bus or a big conversion van, it was good practice to have that many drivers.
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Anyway.
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The maze was huge. And I was right - the Maze is a traditional Halloween outreach thing. Darwin said they had over 150 kids there and only 2 made it through to the end. It's completely dark in the maze b/c they turn off all the lights and it's well put together anyway. So you'll understand if some kids got ready to go in and upon seeing how dark it was decided not to even try it - claustrophobic MUCH! I would totally do it though. Terry didn't. He had other stuff to do, like keep the peace. Also, he had someone come to look at our van! Hopefully she'll call back.
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Anyway, again. Here are the shots:

This is the best shot I could find of the outside.

A girl in the Maze.

Darkness...fuuuurrrreaky!

youth group

It's Wednesday again. More youth group. But tonight it a special night. The kids are going to get lost in a cardboard box maze. Yes. I know. That sounds AWESOME! They're going in two different groups - first junior high and then senior high. Darwin's church does this every year and I think it's supposed to be around Halloween time. I'll have to edit this if I get my facts wrong, but you'll never know anyway. I'll do another post b/c Terry will surely take pictures...if he doesn't get lost. Yeah, silly joke, I know.

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This pic is from last week's youth group. They're (the junior highers) playing some kind of game that I don't even know b/c I was busy with Noah like I always am.

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What usually happens for Wednesday nights is Terry leaves at 530pm and we follow him shortly thereafter. Some really great ladies make dinner for us all, the leaders and the junior highers. Somebody always takes Evie off my hip and she gets passed around, which she is perfectly happy to do. We all eat and then Noah runs around to play. He could go to Awana right now and he will in the future I guess... But I just really enjoy being able to bring him to part of youth group. Gets to have more time with dad and just have fun. Mostly Daddy though.

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Anyway, when Terry's about to start on his lesson I load up and head home, put the kids to bed and wait for my sitter (the WONDERFUL Mrs. Brenda Heibner and her daughter Kenzi). Then I go back for senior high youth group, which I help with. I lead a small group for the junior and senior girls. We play a game...and I participate b/c I'm cool like that. We have our lesson. We socialize. We go home about 10pm. Then I go to bed! Tired!

Here is Noah playing air hockey, one of his favorite things to do. He's trying to decide if my hands are gonna stay out of his way or if he can sneak that puck through. He loves it.

Fun Fall weather

The weather changes quickly here. One day it's snowing, the next it's too hot for coats and everyone is wearing sandals...or in Noah's case, underwear.

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Noah has a lot of energy and prefers to get outside as much as possible. We do this after lunch in the summer. But now that it's getting cold out, we haven't been doing that everyday. Still, even when it's cold out, he wants out there. I'm thankful when Terry is home for these outings.

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Tuesday Oct. 21, 08: Here's Evie and I on the back porch swing while Terry was swinging Noah. It was pretty chilly so I just put Evie in Terry's coat...and I just realized this is reminiscent of Alien. Oh well. I thought it was cute.

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I wanted to go outside but it was spitting a little so I grabbed Evie's froggie hat that my mom made this summer. Awwwww!

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Noah bundled on the swing.

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Wednesday, Oct 22, 08: This was before youth group last week and it was raining pretty good but Noah still wanted out. Yeah, pretty wet.

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Saturday, Oct 25, 08: This is just 3 days later on Saturday! Yes, Terry was outside with Noah again and Noah insisted on extracting the pool from its hibernation in the shed, which it was happy to do apparently. I came out just in time to see Terry filling it with water! Yeah, October 25th!!! In his defense, it was like 70 degrees out.

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However, Noah did keep hopping onto that little shelf b/c the water was so cold. "Bird! Too cold!" he would say. Translation: Bird means Brrrrr.

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Sliding action.

We told him to keep his underwear on but when Terry was mowing the lawn (he says for the last time), he looked up to see Noah running at him...you got it, naked.

Baby Snap

Last weekend my sister Stephanie visited, bearing gifts - my mom had fallen victim to all the news stores that recently opened there =). So, Evie got several cute outfits and Noah got a couple toys - some more Thomas tracks and a Ty beanie baby Miniature Schnauzer puppy. Of course Noah loved the tracks. He and daddy have a good time rearranging them as much as is possible on the small table they're on. But he didn't seem that interested in the beanie baby. I didn't think he would be b/c he already has some stuffed animals and doesn't really care for them.

But yesterday, he started carrying it around everywhere. He calls it Baby Snap and is MUCH more gentle with the fake dog than the real one. I mean, poor Snap. It's a good thing dogs are loyal b/c a cat would hate Noah. A cat would also learn its lesson and hide - wouldn't keep coming back for more abuse. Anyway, Noah was petting Baby Snap all gentle and talking to him and including him in all his play. If he left him anywhere, he was all "Where's Baby Snap?!" and had to run and find him right away. While we were doing some reading in the morning, Noah was distracted for a bit while he examined all of Baby Snap. He turned him around and saw the Ty tag by the tail and then pointed to exactly where Snap's real bottom would be and told me all about how Snap goes potty.

When I got home from the Wellness Center I found them like this on the couch:

So he's cuddling w/both Snaps. How cute!

Still got a hold of Baby Snap.

Saturdays I make a breakfast lunch and here is Noah with his yummy waffle. When I first gave it to him, Noah shoved Baby Snap's face in there to share. I was too slow w/the camera to catch it though. But there it is, right next to him.

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So today at church, in the second row (b/c Terry always has to make announcements and pray), Noah was playing with Baby Snap. In the middle of the sermon he held Baby Snap up to Terry, turned him around and pointed out, "Bottom - poop and pee come out." And of course, Noah is not very good at whispering yet... I'm not sure who heard but we thought it was quite funny, but mostly embarrassing. Funny boy.

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Here's the real Snap hanging out in the back yard with us yesterday. His whiskers and beard are looking so much better.

letters and numbers

Lately I've been giving home schooling a lot of thought. I know, right? Gasp! Choke! Heart palpitations! CPR! Weirdos!

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But what I see in youth group with kids "these days" is a little unnerving, as a Christian and as a mom. And that's just what I see at youth group. I'm not in school anymore. If I saw terrible things when I was in school 15 yrs ago, then it's bound to have gotten worse. So anyway, that's where I'm at. Well, there's more reasoning and we're not through deciding, but we're definitely seriously thinking about it.

So I've decided to get my feet wet and TRY to do learning stuff with Noah. At first it was difficult to get him to pay attention, and it still is, but he's getting better. Now he expects it and looks forward to it. He watches Sesame Street and then afterwards we "color." He turns off the tv and announces, "Color?" Coloring includes going over the letter and number of the day by drawing pictures of them. And since he loves Thomas the Train so much, I use this ABC book we keep checking out from the library (I really need to buy our own...). Then I attempt to draw whatever is on the page for the letter of the day.

Here are some examples. You can see the book at the top.

Here is "B" for Bertie the Bus and the flash cards for Barn and Ball.

Here is "D," for Diesel, Duck and Dog.

Every couple weeks we have a play date with the Jensens - Karla and Allen. Karla home schools and they just started last year. I went the first time to observe and now we pretty much just hang out so I don't get in their way. Noah has a lot of fun there with Grant's Thomas trains.

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Grant, Evie, Savannah, Karla.

Karla listening to her husband expound on how much farming he has to do.

I tell you what. These kids LOVE love love Evie.

PS Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been working on my RN continuing education credits during nap times and that doesn't leave me with much other time. I have to complete 20 hrs of ed before I can renew my license, since I'm not working right now. Only 3 days and 6 hours to go though! It's been good to re-learn things and to come to realize that I haven't forgotten everything I learned in school. Motherhood hasn't driven it all from my mind...yet.

more window treatments

If you didn't get enough of our new bedroom window curtains or you wanted more, you're in luck. If you don't care, sorry, I do. =)

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Just wanted to show what they look like open. They're quite nice closed, but how I love sunlight.

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And this is our bathroom. It was painted purple before we moved in and I have no idea what they covered the windows with. We had just used two pale colored towels.

And now!

I like them.


Here's a blast from the past...er, last year. This is Noah's room, obviously. Ah, look, he was still sleeping in his make shift toddler bed that's actually Evie's crib with the side bars off. Look at how cute he is! But what I pulled this out of storage for was to show the blue towels covering the window. Yeah. And you can tell how dark it is in there b/c the ugly overhead light makes it look all shadowy and grainy.

And now! Yeah, the green paint actually looks nice now. This is the same one that's in our bathroom. I actually hung this one first (well, Terry did) but liked it so much and b/c it was on super sale, that we got two more for our bathroom...

This is an example of a greatest strength also being a weakness: Light comes through this curtain, but LIGHT actually comes into what had been a dungeon of a room. I would like to take out that weird brown accordion closet "door" and just use some kind of curtain. Oh yeah, and take Noah's clothes storage bins out.

the puppy

As our friend Krista so eloquently put it (about her son and dog), Noah wants to be a dog and Snap wants to be a boy. This morning when I went in to get Noah up from bed, he said, "Woof woof" and then jumped off his bed and into my arms like any good puppy would. When I let him down, he then crawled into the bathroom to go potty woofing as he went. He woofed and crawled to the breakfast table where I fixed him his usual banana and cereal.
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He likes his cereal dry and on a plate, not in a bowl. I then went to do something and when I came back into the kitchen, he was eating the cereal off his plate with his mouth b/c dogs of course don't use their paws. So I told him, "Noah use your hands!" and then I paused to think. What kind of messed up command is that? Eat with your hands? Come on momma. My son, not dog, should eat with utensils, right? Well, I guess we'll have to work on that. At any rate, I think eating with his hands is better than eating with his mouth right off the plate.
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Noah is starting to not like his naps anymore...again. But I still put him in there for time on his own and time on my own. When he really doesn't want to go down, he cries like a dog. Once I went in there b/c he was really crying. He was saying something and he had to calm down a little for me to understand him. He was just crying "WOOF! WOOF!" He was really, actually, totally crying but he still doing it as a dog.
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Noah also fetches and plays on the floor like a dog. He's got a specific "stick," which is actually a long plastic unfurled handle from some toy that I can't even remember. He doesn't like to share this stick with Snap, even though it really should be Snap's toy. Whenever Snap plays with it, Noah takes it away. I have to tell him to "share with Snap." For goodness sake. Noah even took it to the red slide at the playground yesterday, though thankfully he didn't carry it in his mouth.
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He's a complete puppy. Even in that picture his hair is imitating a dog. Don't you think it looks like puppy ears? Maybe Wolverine... Classic Noah hair thanks to his daddy's genes.