Just Breathe

Do you ever feel like all you do is spin your wheels and nothing gets accomplished throughout your day?  Do you ever feel like you are so busy that you don't have time for breakfast, a shower....or for a breath?  While we are definitely living a slower lifestyle and choosing less so we can pour more into our kids intentionally, we are still short of breathes at the end of most days.  The couch has our names written on it and the bed by 10pm.  So a vacation was definitely what the doctor ordered for this family and breathe we did.  Well, I did and Kurt was the human jungle gym for the kids as he tossed, juggled, jumped, ran and built with the kids in the water and in the sand at our vacation getaway in Florida.  Siena loved being in the water and pretending to surf on a boogey board.  Carson was a little more hesitant to get in the water but he did and had just as much fun.  What made him giggle was destroying sand castles that everyone else built.  His boyish characteristics are definitely coming to the surface.  And Allegra adored having the waves wash over her feet.  She was content to hang out in her seat under the umbrella or in her beach tent and meet new people along the beach.  It should come as no surprise that she brought a smile to anyone who walked by.

Siena and Mommy enjoyed being buried under the warm sand together.  

Though the evening started out cloudy, we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset while we were having fun in the sand.  Our God, the master artist, painted the clouds the richest colors and the sun itself transitioned from a yellow to gold to a fiery orange to a brilliant red before going to bed.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our time away and embraced every second we caught to reconnect and relax.  Rest is good for the soul and necessary to continue on the journey but too much is not good either (or at least that's what I tell myself when the "to-do" list gets too long) but Florida and the Knolls found the right mix to make our fall break magical. 

Celebrating the Every Day

Siena can leap through the air with the greatest of ease and jump over mountains with a single bound!  She has successfully taught Carson her tricks and he has been the perfect protege.  He is now in Tumbleweeds, a tumbling class for preschoolers, in hopes of improving these skills.  They have both been blessed with the most amazing physical skill and agility above kids their age.  As a result, we receive strange looks implying, "You let them do that?!!"  -- Yes, yes we do.  I don't think Kurt & I were much different as kids. 

This was the fun we had a family night at the MTSU home football game.  Siena had not been to a game since she was one so this was a first for Carson & Allegra.  We all faired well (the weather was in our favor) but the youngest in our crew crashed early and we called it a night shortly after halftime.  (Lower the volume on this video for the sake of your ears; the kids are dancing to the halftime performance of the band.)

Happy Birthday to our dear beautiful Siena Rose!  She is such a breath of fresh air and a bright light in a dark world.  Her teacher continues to brag on her, both academically and the compassionate heart she has.  Siena was so delighted to celebrate her day with chicken corn chowder and carrot cake with her family outdoors.

Allegra is such a source of radiance in our home.  Her eyes sparkle and her grin is absolutely contagious.  To say we have been blessed by this baby girl in our lives would be an understatement.   God has answered my prayer: she has blended into our family seamlessly, she goes along with chaos of our home happily and never complains.  It's like she has always been apart of our little team.  She has made the transition to 3 children a joy.  She sat up with Daddy's help the other day and she has been eating rice cereal for a couple weeks.  And she loves to suck on her two middle fingers -- 

go figure!

Our church small group took our families to Lucky Ladd Farms (a pumpkin farm) for a day of fun.  The kids enjoyed their first pony rides, slid down tunnel slides, rode on a tractor, played in corn boxes (instead of the typical sandbox) and never left the side of their little buddy, Clark.  I predict these two little boys are going to continue to be close as they grow.

While so many of those around us are moving on and moving up, constantly looking for the next new thing, we continue to keep the status quo and to embrace what we have.  We have found meaning and purpose in changing diapers, nap times and repeating ourselves over and over and over and over again.  We have found the exact thing we have been wishing for -- love, laughter and each other.  May God bless each of with the same joy-filled life that we have found. 

Too Cute Not to Share

Siena has been in school for 3 weeks and we are doing our best to adjust to a new school schedule, a new sleep schedule and days without her around the house.  She seems to like school overall; the highlights of her day are carpooling with her friend Lainey, eating lunch and going to recess.  Carson has stepped up and been a fantastic brother to his sister, Allegra, since it's just the two of them now.  Siena and Carson have enjoyed a lot of play time outdoors after school that has been priceless.

Our little man celebrated three years with us and he is such a blessing to our family.  On many occasions, we have heard just how polite he is but the flip side of that is he always has a question for us. He knew it was his birthday and was eager to sing "Happy Birthday" to himself and other people as well.  We celebrated his big day with a dream to the "Choo-Choo" house (aka The Discovery Center which houses a model train) with his best buddy, Clark, and cheese pizza for lunch.  These two are a hoot together!

 We have the best friends who threw Carson a small get together with his friends in the evening, complete with Thomas the Train cupcakes.  Since he got lawn tools for his birthday, he spent Labor Day weekend putting them to good use. 

Our friends know Kurt incredibly well and how he has recently shared THE FORCE with Siena and Carson and they LOVE IT!!!!  As a result, Star Wars gifts are a popular item at our house for all.  Yes, those are bubble containers (that are no longer full).

Allegra may not have celebrated a birthday but she is doing some big things like bouncing in the jumper and riding on Milo. She enjoys being on her tummy now and will spend time playing with the kids around her.  Her smile is contagious and she is the happiest baby you could ever ask for.
Our cup truly runneth over!

Things They are a Changin'

All of life is change - that is the make up of life, the composition of our days, the challenges and the sweetnesswe experience is in the changes.  Yet we fight it so much, because we are scared of the unknown and we are scared that the new might not be as good as the "right now".  Sometimes that is true but most of the time, we are pleasantly surprised and we have a hard time remembering how life "use to be". 

Life has changed so much for us in just a few short weeks, both big and small.  These 'world-travellers' have not been out of the 'Boro since Thanksgiving so we took a weekend trip to Memphis to visit some old small group friends that we meet our first month in Tennessee.  Fast forward 12 years, both couples have 3 kids and successful careers with God guiding each family.  So we had a great time catching up, swimming and Siena learned to kayak in their pool.  How quickly they pick things up!

 Watch our playful kids in action!  The more I watch them, the more I realize they truly get their energy from their Dad.  Watch Out World!  There are three of them!!

Dave started a new adventure that called for change and he moved to Colorado at the first of the month.  We got use to having him here for breakfast and bike rides.  He knew our kids so well and they adored their Uncle Dave.  I am saddened they don't get the privilege of seeing him as frequently, but I can't wait to see what God has in store for Dave in the Rockies.  

We dedicated our 3rd baby to the Lord on Sunday, August 2nd, meaning that we, the parents, are choosing to raise her in a Godly home with Godly instruction.  Dr. George Jackson gave the prayer over Allegra, or more of an encouragement to keep doing what we have been doing; I guess somewhere along the way, we must have gotten something right.  

Somewhere along the way, our 1st baby grew up and her preschool years are over.  Luckily she isn't loading up the U-haul like Dave, but she has choosen to go to public school just down the road at Black Fox Elementary.  Her teacher, Mrs. Crews' is very sweet and adores our little girl.  We can't draw too many conclusions after the first week except that Carson & I miss her terribly while she is away.  

WHO IS WHO?

Allegra is growing and changing daily.  She really is the sweetest, happiest, easiest baby.  One friend who joined us for dinner watched us put her down and said, "That's it?!?!"  Yup, she is that cooperative.  When she smiles, she opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue.  She looks like BOTH of her siblings (Can you guess which one she is in the above pictures?) and she is happy to go anywhere as long as she can face out and have a clean diaper.  Not only is she 4 months old, but she has now rolled over.

Thank you for keeping up with our family and please keep us in your prayers as life here continues to change on a daily basis.  We feel incredibly blessed to have one another and we strive to take things slow in order to watch and appreciate these beautiful blossoms unfold around us. 

Our Story Continues...

In our every day routine, it doesn't appear that much happens besides laundry, 3 meals a day and our nightly bed time ritual.  But then you look over the photos that we snap throughout the month and you become aware that we do so much more like clean up tree debris.  It only took a weekend to clean up the backyard from the storm damage we received in June.  Notice that Carson is supervising Dad's hard work with his milk in hand.    

We practice holding our baby sister in different ways.  One day we will be baby-sit someone else's priceless children and maybe even have one of our own. 

We get our very first hair cut.  We were nervous about loosing the curls and as you can see, our fears were unfounded because they didn't go anywhere. 

We celebrate the Fourth of July with a rained out BBQ with our friends and the kids play with sparklers.  Carson was not impressed with the noises they produced so he happily spent most of his time watching a movie in the sunroom in order to escape. 

We GROW!  This is hardest and most unbelievable thing for me to grasp.  These precious children are cute and cuddly one day and running around before we know it.  Allegra will soon be following suit which is exciting and sad.  Regardless, we celebrate another day and another month with her.

 We attend birthday parties which give us opportunities to try new things like the climbing wall.  You should not be surprised that this five year old could scale half of the wall.  I give it another year and she will be at the top ringing the bell.  Year 7, we are heading to Mount Everest.

We go swimming and Mommy gets braver to put her baby girl in a swimsuit and let her join in on the fun with all of her friends.  We are so blessed to have friends who will share their time and their pools with us, which makes it incredibly easier to take 3 kids swimming.

We teach the kids the value of hard work and that everyone has to pull their load in the Knoll house.  So when it's time to vacuum the car, everyone pitches in.

We go to the library.  We may go to check out a few books but we all know the true reason for the visit is so we can play in the fountain and yes, Carson was thirsty enough to drink the water.

And we give each other a break!  Raising kids is hard work!  Our kids are up early, constantly requiring drinks, the potty or something and they are eager to learn from our example, so there is no down time besides a few moments that our spouse let's us escape.  I attend a girl's game night once a month and Kurt got to go white water rafting in June with his buddies.  Since this wasn't his first rodeo, he was courageous enough to show the newbies how to "ride the bull" and go head first in to the rapids of the Ocoee River.  And the summer is not over- stay tuned for the next adventure.