Our "Blooming" Lives

I love my boys!

2012-01-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

This was the aerobic session at our house last night...

and a little Cardinal love at the end!

Pictures tell the story...

2012-01-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Judah and his buddy Keegan. Keegan is another church staff baby who was born just a few weeks after Judah, but no your eyes are not deceiving you... Keegan is already bigger than Judah. :) We have the runt of the staff babies but he's still SO CUTE! Judah was trying so hard to talk to his friend, but Keegan could have cared less that there was another baby laying next to him.

Sitting like a big boy in big brother's recliner. For some reason he just looks so old and so serious in this picture. He really was laughing just a few seconds before I took this shot.

While I showered on Sunday morning, Kael put a sleeping Judah on the recliner since he had to head to the church. When I came out to check on him I found Daisy sitting on the very edge of the chair keeping him quite warm and safe. Judah had also awaken and was having quite the conversation with his puppy. Of course later Isaac had to get in on the picture. I love the second one because if you look closely my boys have the exact same smile on their faces (eyes closed and everything)!

Ms Isabella Grace Bloom

2012-01-20T13:05:00.001-08:00

House Update

2012-01-19T20:38:00.001-08:00

This is going to be a short entry... Still no offers on our house. We are continually praying for God's will and not our own. No matter what happens we are happy and blessed.

Thanks to you all for your prayers too.

PS, in case you didn't see in my twitter updates... I'm an aunt again! Brandi and Kyle welcomed Bella Grace into the world today. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and she's just beautiful. The boys and I can't wait to go down in a few weeks to meet her!

Judah's Laugh

2012-01-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

Try not to laugh as you watch this! He's so sweet!

Super Isaac!

2012-01-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the "deep Mom voice" ... still a little under the weather. Super Issac flew through our house all night last night and I had to get a little of it on camera. Enjoy!

My Verse of the Year - 2012

2012-01-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

This is what I wrote to my church family this morning in our daily encouragement. I wanted to share it with everyone because the more people holding me accountable the better.

---

Good Friday morning wonderful church family!

I know that you’ve read this all week, but it really is an honor and a pleasure to get to share with you all in this way and to serve you on our church staff. My family and myself are so blessed by each and every one of you.

Busyness. We’re all guilty of becoming too busy and too distracted to really focus on what’s important. I loved seeing Patrick’s demonstration of this during Sunday’s sermon.

A little about my busyness… I am a full-time media specialist for Nex-Tech. 40 hours a week I help create the mailings, flyers, newspaper ads, t-shirts, billboards and “stuff” for Nex-Tech and Nex-Tech Wireless.

I am the part-time volunteer coordinator at the church. 10-20 hours a week I help coordinate all of the volunteers at the church from, communion, greeters, bulletins and GoFish. I also teach a Sunday school class every Sunday.

Kael and I lead a small group on Tuesday nights at our home every week.

I am a wife to Kael and mother to two active little boys Isaac (3) and Judah (3 months).

On top of all that, we’re trying to sell our home in the next 37 days so we don’t lose another house we’re under contract with.

As you can guess, life can get a little hectic but believe it or not, I’m often told how calm, cool, collected and generally unstressed I am. It’s a total cover-up! I feel so stressed most days it’s hard to even get out of bed! I honestly struggle to squeeze in a quiet time most days and I HATE the busyness and I HATE the pretending.

I want to actually not be stressed. I want to have a quiet time every day. I want to take time out of everyday to pray with my husband and my children. I want to walk the walk that people perceive. Above all, I want to live the life that God commands of me, and he commands me to put Him first!

So this is my verse of the year:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” – Ephesians 5:15-17

Please hold me accountable. Ask me what Bible chapters I’m reading or what devotionals I’m doing. Ask me how I’m putting God first and family second. Make sure I’m making the best use of my time and not acting as a fool does. And if this is something you struggle with too, ask me to do the same for you. I love you all and I leave you with this…

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22

---

What will your verse of the year be? Let me know!

Featured Designer

2012-01-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

I think on Thursdays from here on out... I'm going to feature a graphic designer on my blog. This is of course inspired because I'm a graphic designer and I so admire others in my field. Today... I'm going to feature an old friend, Lisa Langenhop.

I met Lisa back in 2004 when we both traveled to Orlando, Florida for a summer project for Campus Crusade for Christ. We also spent the summer of 2005 together while her, myself and Amy Elrod were all there... great lake pictures I still look at today!

I follow her already on her blog makinghomehomemade.blogspot.com but she also has a couple of other websites that I just discovered today.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LHopDesigns

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheUpCycledPillow

http://www.lisalangenhop.viewbook.com

Check them out. SO WORTH IT!

Happy Anniversary My Love!

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

5 years. 1,825 days. Wow. It's hard to believe Kael and I have been married that long.

How many of you remember that day? December 30, 2006. It was so cold! It rained almost all day until just before the wedding started and then the rain turned to snow. Then the snow didn't stop… and didn't stop… and didn't stop.

Yep. Blizzard.

A lot of guests and even a few from our wedding party couldn't make it. After the ceremony there wasn't much of a reception, many had to hurry home or get stuck in little ol' Lindsborg.

Kael was so sick he had to drink an entire bottle of Dayquil to ensure he didn't cough during the entire ceremony. It worked, he doesn't remember much from the day, but it worked!

All that, and it was still beautiful. The colors, the decorations, the snow, and especially the people. Thank you to everyone who was there.

I married my best friend and made the best decision I've ever made.

Kael I love you. I'm so blessed to call you my husband. Isaac and Judah are so blessed to call you their father. I look forward to many many more years.

Isaac Praying

2011-12-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is just too cute not to share.

Thanks Kari and Mom for sending it our way. This is how Isaac was praying Sunday morning during Dad's sermon. The rest of us were not nearly so focused. :)

So sweet.

SNOW... and lots of it!

2011-12-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

The official report is that we received 10.5 inches of the white stuff here in Hays. Isaac got to enjoy it a little last night before Mom and Dad deemed it too cold to stay out any longer. We'll have to hit it again tonight!

Fun in the snow!

Judah didn't get to enjoy the snow a whole lot obviously, but he had fun watching Isaac.

What a big smile on those rosy cheeks!

37 Years!

2011-12-20T06:57:00.001-08:00

Want to know one of the reasons I'm so thankful I married Kael?

His wonderful family!

Happy 37th Anniversary to my Mother and Father in Law, Jamie and Genelle!

Thank you for raising such a wonderful son. Thank you for teaching him to open doors (even car doors) for his wife. Thank you for teaching him how to say "I love you" everyday. Thank you for teaching him how to be the spiritual leader in our marriage. Thank you for teaching him to be such a wonderful father.

And most of all, thank you for teaching him, and myself, how to rely on the power and comfort of God to make it through any trial that may come our way.

Love you both!

PS, the picture was taken at Grandpa Bloom's 90th birthday just 10 weeks ago. This is Kael's entire family from parents, siblings, nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Big Changes!

2011-12-16T07:27:00.000-08:00

We just bought a house! Yep, you read correctly… we are buying a new home for our growing family. This is all of course dependent on us selling our current home and we haven't signed any "official" contract yet.

Shameless plug… We have about 6 weeks to sell our current home so if you know of anyone who needs a beautiful 2 bedroom, 1 bath home let us know!

The house we're moving to is 1709 Anthony here in Hays. It's a beautiful 4 bedroom 3 bath home with a full basement in a wonderfully quiet neighborhood far far away from Vine Street. It also has a playground in the backyard for the boys! I put a little picture of the front of the house on here so you can all see it.

This whole process has just gone so fast. I had forgotten how stressful, nerve racking and exciting it all could be. I also realize how much my parents helped us with our first home during this process. A lot of the papers were completely foreign to us. I had so many questions for our bank and our realtor, I'm surprised they both haven't blocked me from their phones.

Speaking of our realtor… Everyone should list/buy through Brent Hines. (Another shameless plug). Brent attends Celebration with our family and he and his FIANCE are a part of our wonderful small group. We couldn't ask for a better friend or realtor. He and his FIANCE Bri (my BFF) are getting married in April and both Kael and I are very blessed to be a part of their wedding.

So big changes… Judah is here and will be 12 weeks on Sunday, time is flying by! We're buying a new home! Christmas is just 9 days away! 2012 is almost here and it's going to be great!

Thought Provoking Luncheon

2011-08-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I had a great opportunity yesterday to hear Andy Addis speak. Andy is the pastor of Crosspoint Church in Hutchinson, which also had several “satellite” campuses.

He’s a wonderfully engaging speaker who uses humor and a gift for story telling to capture and hold his audience.

He spoke at our Hays Area Young Professionals luncheon yesterday on “The Martial Art of Progress.” It covered the 5 elements of a good martial arts punch, which he found also applied to life.

The 5 elements are:

READY POSITION

You are ready! Avoid analysis paralysis.

FOCUSED TARGET

Decide what to accomplish and visualize it.

USE YOUR HIPS

Put everything into your effort.

STRIKE WITH A TIGHT FIST

Develop a solid system.

THINK SPEED NOT STRENGTH

Think steps not programs and just DO something.

Kael and I are kind of in a stage where this all really hit me like a 2x4. We are getting ready to celebrate our 5 year anniversary this December…. However, outside of children our lives really don’t look all that different than they did 5 years ago.

We still live in Hays, we still live in the same house, Kael still leads music at Celebration and for the last 3 years I’ve been at Nex-Tech. Now yes, we do have a wonderful little boy with another on the way, different vehicles, and different responsibilities both at home and at work, but a lot is the same.

Realizing this, we naturally started asking ourselves… is this it? Is this what we’re going to be doing for the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?

Now please don’t get me wrong, we are not looking to make any drastic changes but maybe we should be.

Andy said in his lecture, if you’re not moving you’re grazing. I don’t want to just graze. I may look like a slow moving fat cow right now, but I certainly don’t want to act like one!

Kael and I want to buy a bigger home for our growing family… should we sell our current home and rent to save money?

Kael and I always said we wouldn’t end up in Hays… have we already planted ourselves here for good?

To get out of a rut you have to go big.

I want to go big! Do you?

No More Slacking Off

2011-07-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have to stop slacking off on this blog. I'm sorry to everyone who actually follows it... grandparents, great grandparents, out of town friends not on Facebook...

I really do enjoy contributing to this blog and I really do want to find time to write more often.

Since I haven't updated it since before we knew if Baby Bloom #2 was a boy or a girl... It's a another BOY! We've decided on the name Judah Benjamin, Judah meaning "praised."

Great story behind the name. Before we even knew we were pregnant but were in the process of trying, Kael's mom had a dream. In her dream she saw our second child... a happy healthy boy who we would name Judah Benjamin. As soon as Kael and I heard that name we looked at each other and kind of swapped sly little grins, both thinking to ourselves... I LOVE THAT NAME! Well it wasn't but a month later that we discovered we were in fact pregnant.

When we heard that news we both had a gut feeling that his mother's dream was coming true. When we had our sonogram and saw his "turtle" we were overjoyed and knew this child's name would be Judah Benjamin.

We have picked the C-Section date and Judah is scheduled to make his appearance on October 5th. We'll see if he decides to come early or not! :)

Until next time!

Official Baby Bloom #2 Countdown!

2011-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

7 Days until we find out boy or girl! :)

C3 for JB

2011-05-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to tell you about my weekend. Early Saturday morning I left for Leoti, KS with two good friends from my church to run a 5K. Why drive 2.5 hours to run a 5K you might ask... for a great great cause and a wonderful little girl and family.

A family that used to attend our church had to move away about 2 years ago for a new job opportunity. We miss them very much to this day. The family has one little boy and two sweet twin girls who just turned 3. One of the girls was just diagnosed with nuroblastoma cancer and has to undergo chemo treatments every 3 weeks for the next 18 months. There's going to be lots of medical expenses on top of lots of travel expenses.

The 5K this weekend was part of a fundraiser to help raise money for the family. Us three girls had a great time running and participating in the race. The two "old women" finished in 39:50 and the "young one" finished about 5 minutes ahead of us.

I was proud to run a 5K 5 months pregnant but I'm even more proud that we were able to support such a wonderful cause and such a wonderful family. Please keep the Babst family in your prayers and on your minds.

Easter 2011

2011-05-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Bloom family had a wonderful Easter this year so I had to share a few pictures from Isaac's first Easter Egg Hunt!

We took part in the Kiwanis Hunt down at Fort Hays State University and Isaac loved every second of it. We got there a few minutes early so we could visit the Easter Bunny. Isaac was so excited to see him, which caught all of us off guard. Most of the time Isaac shy's away from all things "mascot looking" but he was all for it this time around. He walked right up to the bunny and gave him hugs and high fives. It also helped that they bunny gave him candy for his Easter basket. Isaac talked about it for the rest of the day. He begged and begged the bunny to go look for eggs with him but after several minutes of explaining he had to see other kids Mom was able to tear him away.

Kiwanis also gave every child a free stuffed rabbit to take home. Isaac hasn't slept without his since.

Then the fun really began! Eggs! I've never seen my son move so fast. He actually took off so quickly he tripped over his own feet and fell face first in the grass. That didn't seem to phase him though as he bounced right back up and took off again. He only gathered about 10 eggs but he was thrilled... especially when he opened them to discover more candy.

The rest of the day he talked about the race to get eggs and how the lady said "ready, set, get eggs!" I think he's already looking forward to next year, and to be honest, I think Mom and Dad are too!

Baby in Mommy's Panza!

2011-03-31T20:16:00.001-07:00

So... it's been a while. I apologize dearly. Keeping up with a two year old has proven more difficult than orignially anticiapted, and we have an amazing well behaved two year old to boot! I was told by my husband yesterday that I should really start updating this again since, you know, we're pregnant again and all! That's right, in case you didn't already know... Kael and I are expecting baby Bloom number 2! The baby is due on October 14th. We're right at 12 weeks and just got to hear the heartbeat for the first time last week. We have a squirmy child on our hands already. It took the nurse four time to get him/her to hold still long enough to get a good count. After he/she held still (and I held my breath) the count was 160. Kael is convinced it's a girl judging my all the moving about. I guess we'll see! Isaac is very excited about the baby in Mommy's panza, aka belly. He is learning lots of fun spanish words from his dear babysitter Mary and we love it. We never know what he's going to come home with. He's not sure if it's a boy or a girl, it just depends on the day and his mood. We have another appointment in a few weeks, we'll be at 15 weeks. Then we're hoping to have a sonogram right before out 19 week appointment to find out boy or girl. We'll be sure to let everyone know. Now that I'm at 12 weeks we've decided it's about time to start documenting this pregnancy with a few pictures so once that starts I'll try to do that as well. We love you all! Good night!

Yoda Isaac Was...

2010-11-02T19:57:00.001-07:00

Happy November! First, so sorry it's been since May since my last blog. Can you tell I started my new job around that time? It's been crazy around the Bloom house and I can't belive the year is only two months from being over already.

Time flies when you're having fun and speaking of fun here are a few pictures of the fun Isaac had this Halloween. He of course went as Yoda... but sometimes he didn't really like his ears so he went as Luke Skywalker in between as you can see on the left. No matter who he was he was adorable.

The glasses you see in the first picture were gicen to him by pastor Kyle. He got quite the kick out of those and is still wearing them around the house today.

We love you all! Grandma Beckman you can't be "mad" at me anymore! :) I'll try to post some pumpkin patch pictures soon too.

Summer Fun

2010-05-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

So it was a beautiful day today. A warm and lovely 85 degrees and a perfect day for a little water fun. Kael and I recently overseeded our lawn and it was is desperate need of a good watering today so Isaac and I decided to take advantage of the sprinkler.

We just bought him a new swimsuit and swimshirt from Old Navy and thought we'd give them their first run. Kael took some fantastic pictures of Isaac. I hope you enjoy. His face in the first picture is wonderful.

And here I thought Chicago was the Windy City

2010-05-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

As you all proably are well aware Kansas is a fairly windy state. It blows a lot here. Well a couple of weeks ago it REALLY blew a lot. Unfortunatly because of that Kael and I's house suffered a bit of damage. We had several pieces of siding blow off. And not only did they blow off, they broke, into several pieces therefore making it impossible to simply reattach them.

The front of the house had only one piece fly off but it also suffered damage thanks to our screen door. If you look close enough you can see a handle size crack right above the missing piece. Plus, I don't have recent pictures to show you but the insurance adjuster took off yet another piece just below the already missing peice to send off and have it examined.

The east side of house lost two pieces.

I mentioned the insurance adjuster. Well he has to take the piece he took and send it to a company in Florida. The Florida based company will tell him if out siding can be replaced or not. If they determine it can't be then of course we may have to replace both sides of our house with new siding. We knew that part, what we're waiting on is to hear just how much of that they're going to cover. We'll see!

Call Me!

2010-05-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

More Fantastic Pics

2010-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

So as you all know we have a puppy now. His name is Tucker. Well Tucker and Isaac are pretty close. What one does the other does. Yes this occasionally mean Isaac will eat from the floor, drink from the water hose, roll around in the dirt, and climb into Tucker's kennell...

Classic Picture

2010-04-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

This great shot is Isaac enjoying some of his Easter candy. I don't know why but I really enjoy it so I thought I'd share.

Deal...

2010-04-28T20:05:00.001-07:00

...My Mother-In-Law knows what this means. :) Love you!

Spring is here and boys will be boys! We airated and over seeded our lawn over the weekend and Isaac took full advatage of having plenty of mud to play in. The first two pictures are not very good. The last however is wonderful. My absolute favorite. His behind is just covered. I have not yet attempted to get this outfit clean. I'll let you know how it goes.

Our Beautiful Porch

2010-04-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to my mom for purchasing the paint... 3 years ago. Surprisingly it was still good and worked really great. I can't wait to get the back porch done too.

Also note, the really really cute wreath on the door. It's a new purchase and I quite enjoy it.

Jumping Bean

2010-03-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

So Isaac has been working on this for some time and finally has it mastered. Jumping. For the longest time, if you told him to jump he would simply bend his knees and come up really fast. Well, he can finally get off the ground and thinks that it's just pretty neat so I wanted to share it with all of you. I apologize in advance for the wobbliness, I was jumping too. :)

2010-02-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

Kael's "before" picture. He has decided to get a meaningful tattoo over his current tattoo on his left arm. He's doing a whole half sleeve. Lee at Sore Loser Tattoo here in Hays will be doing the work again.

Kael's "after" pictures after his first sitting. Eventually you won't be able to see his old tattoo at all. The idea is to have music revolving around the cross. The lines will eventually be the words to Kael's favorite hymn. There will also be a guitar tied in some how.

We'll post more pictures after his next session.

Book Worm

2010-02-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Isaac is a book worm like his mom and I thought I'd try to get a video of how absolutely cute he is. Listen to all of his fun animal sounds too!

BABY NEWS!

2010-02-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

NOPE! Not me! Got you all!

But I was given permission to tell everyone and since I'm so excited I'm going to do just that. One of my very very very best friends just shared the news that she is expecting! Candice was my roommate most of college she was a bridesmaid in my wedding and I in hers. She met her husband Eric our very first year in college and it took them (ok just her) to know that they were meant for each other. Now it's time for a baby!

The picture on the left is them right after they got engaged. It seems like so long ago.

I just wanted to share the good news. Most of my family reading this knows Candice and I wanted you all to be able to share in the excitement. Please keep Candice, Eric and the baby in your prayers.

All grown up

2010-02-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

My little boy actually looks like a little boy now. While my mom was in town this weekend we went to get his haircut. It's probably a good thing since when we walked in to Mane Attractions here in Hays the lady that greeted us said... "Oh her hair is so beautiful, why would you ever cut it!?" I promptly informed her Isaac was a boy. Her response... "He's too beautiful to be a boy! We should probably cut his hair." I'm pretty sure she cut off about two inches.

So here are the final results... I think he looks SO much older and it's actually taken me a while to get used to it. Finally today it's starting to grow on me. Let me know what you all think too.

A Trip to Mary's

2010-01-25T20:31:00.000-08:00

So as promised, here is the update on how Isaac did at his first day of babysitting. He did wonderful!!! As soon as we walked in the door he could have cared less where I was and just made himself at home. He walked right into Mya's room and found her basketball and it was non-stop from there. He and Mya got along wonderfully.

I was lucky enough to have the afternoon off today so I got to stay with him today just to get him acclimated to the house and it was great fun for me to get to visit with Mary. She is a remarkable woman and mother and I feel very lucky that I got to get to know her more.

By the time we left at 4 both kids were exhausted. I know Isaac went right down for a nap and Mary said Mya did the same.

I hope he does just as wonderfully on Wednesday without me. After today though, I'm sure it will go great.

More Fun with Lucas

2010-01-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

I totally spaced that I had this video of Isaac and Luke playing on the mats at the track meet from yesterday. It's so cute and shows you how much fun he had running up and down the slopes I was telling you about. Enjoy!

As a bonus... here are a few more pictures of our outing.

Our Saturday

2010-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy weekend in Hays already. Well, in Kearney, Nebraska actually. Kael, Isaac, Aunt Tara and I all loaded up this morning and headed to the red state to watch Uncle Lucas compete in indoor track today.

The drive up went surprisingly well dispite the fact that Isaac refused to take his morning nap. He and Aunt Tara watched a movie and read a couple of books too. Towards the end he was getting pretty tired (hence the picture) but as I said, he wasn't falling asleep for anything.

When we finally reached our destination we were a little dissapointed to find out that Luke had already competed in the long jump and we had missed seeing him, but no worries, we were still able to see him compete in Hurdles, High Jump and Pole Vault. He did very well in everything and it was a lot of fun to watch. Isaac couldn't keep his eyes off the pole vaulters and yelled "GO!" as loud as he could every time Luke went up.

After the Pole Vault competition was over that left the pit open for kids to play on. Lucas and Isaac took full advantage of that fact. Isaac not only enjoyed running and falling but going up and down the ramp as fast as he could. Isn't he so cute in his FHSU shirt!? It's about 5 sizes too big but I couldn't resist. The tail on the back is the greatest.

I can't tell you how many people commented on how cute he was. The FHSU track ladies also commented on how they wanted to put tails on their uniforms. That idea was quickly shot down by Lucas. Odd.

Isaac was a trooper through the whole meet and even napped for about 40 minutes much to our surprise.

After Isaac's nap we headed out to have lunch and enjoy a little out of town shopping before heading home. And with that I will leave you with one last picture. Kael and Lucas found their hunting gear.... if they ever decide to go hunting. The store shall not be named, but I will say these outfits were in the discount section.

Welp, as you know, tomorrow is Sunday and we're all pretty tired on this end and we are now at 9:33 going to bed. Happy Weekend!

Baking Adventures

2010-01-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

Big news in the Bloom household tonight. I, Sara, not only attempted but succeeded in baking my first loaves of bread! It was great!

A co-worker of mine gave me what is called "starter" for an Amish Cinnamon Bread. It takes 10 days after you recieve the starter to actually make the bread. But with the starter you can make up to 6 different breads. I took a picture of it so you could all see what it looks like. It's a combination of Sugar, Flour and Milk.

Tonight I made both the Amish Cinnamon and a Chocolate one. Both were amazing. The two loaves I have pictured are my Chocolate loaves. Trust me, they taste as good as they look.

But alas, if anyone out there is interested in trying this themselves.... here is the recipe. Oh, and I have two cups of starter to share too. Happy baking!

Do not use a metal spoon and do not refrigerate. Stir only with wooden spoon.

Day 1: Nothing
Day 2: Stir
Day 3: Stir
Day 4: Stir
Day 5: Stir
Day 6: Add 1 Cup Milk, 1 Cup Sugar, 1 Cup Flour – Stir thoroughly
Day 7: Stir
Day 8: Stir
Day 9: Stir
Day 10: Add 1 Cup Milk, 1 Cup Sugar, 1 Cup Flour – Stir thoroughly

Take out four 1 cup starters to set aside and to share with friends.

In a large bowl, use the rest of the starter (measure it out and make sure it’s only 1 cup) and add:
1 Cup Oil
½ Cup Milk
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla – Mix thoroughly

In another bowl, mix dry ingredients thoroughly:
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 large Vanilla pudding mix
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Soda
1 Cup Nuts (optional)

Add dry ingredients to liquid and mix thoroughly. Mix 3 Tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Into two large “well” greased loaf pans, sprinkle the mixture of sugar and cinnamon (a lot) on the bottom of pans – pour in the bread batter, then use the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture to sprinkle over the top of each loaf.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55-65 minutes.

Other types of pudding mixes and variations:
Vanilla or Butterscotch with the cinnamon and sugar.
Chocolate pudding and chocolate chips, no cinnamon.
Banana pudding, no cinnamon.

Lemon Pudding and Poppy Seed, no cinnamon.

Bloom Catch-Up

2010-01-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I realize it's been a while since I've blogged and I hope some of you out there are still checking this.

Let's see first up... Did you all know that Kael and I celebrated out third anniversary? It was wonderful. We headed to Lindsborg for the Christmas holiday and my mom and grandparents were kind enough to watch Isaac while we went to dinner and a movie. We saw Sherlock Holmes and really enjoyed it. PLUS! The biggest part was my surprise. Kael decided that I needed a little bigger ring to show off and surprised me with a half carat solitaire!!! It's beautiful. Then we found a wonderful wrap for it and sodered everything together with my original wedding band. I LOVE IT! I kind of feel like we just got engaged all over again I'm showing it off so much.

Number two... Isaac is 17 months old! Yep just yesterday out little man got just a little bit closer to his second birthday. I can't believe how fast the time seems to be flying. It's hard to believe January is almost over. Isaac's favorite phrases right now are "I did it" and "right there." He got a new rocker chair for Christmas and pretty much lives in it now. These pictures are from tonight. I was trying to get his out of the chair and he was having none of that.

Now that Isaac is so much for active than he was when he was say a newborn, Kael and I have decided that he's going to start going to a babysitter. It will only be two afternoons a week and I think he's going to have a great time. One of the women from our church has a beautiful baby girl named Mia. She is exactly to the day one month older than Isaac. Her mom Mary is a stay at home mom and she was looking for a playmate for Mia since it's just the two of them at home alone all day. The situation actually couldn't be better. We'll let you all know how it goes. He starts next Monday.

Last but not least after 3 years of dedicated service our washer has died. It was very sad but expected. But no worries! We got a new washer today! It's wonderful. It's bright and white and when the spin cycle comes on it's SO quiet. It's only two years old and we got it for only $200 off the Nex-Tech Classifieds. Did everyone catch my plug for Nex-Tech? I know you all aren't nearly as excited about this as I am... but just in case I took a picture.

You are all now officially caught up on the happenings of the Bloom family. Until next time! We love you all!

Fun with Dad

2010-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

Go Steelers! The team may not have made it to the playoffs but atleast they won their final game. Isaac got a Troy Palamalu jersey for Christmas and Kael got one for his birthday so of course they had to match during the game on Suday. Aren't they cute!?

Isaac also got a voice enhancing microphone for Christmas and he loves it. Dad and him were taking turns singing the other day and it was too fun not to get a video of. I hope you all enjoy it. The video isn't very long but it's cute all the same.

Oh and since I haven't said it yet... Happy New Year!

The Mighty Jump-O-Lene

2009-12-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

No I haven't gotten the new dance on video yet but wait till you see this! Last night we had our Christmas with Aunt Tara and Uncle Luke and they got Isaac a Jump-O-Lene. It's basically a kid friendly trampoline with sides and it's all inflatable. No unsafe netting. Another great feature of the Jump-O-Lene is that it's an outdoor toy! We wanted a couple of those... and this is about the size of Isaac's room so it's definitely a necessity.

So you know this is big... well unfortunately we couldn't find the charger to our air pump... therefore Lucas, Tara and I all had to take turns blowing up this massive object. Lucas did most of the blowing but I think Tara and I did a fair share. You can see from these pictures that Isaac was a huge help as well.

After we finally got it inflated that's when the real fun began. Isaac had an absolute blast on this thing. He jumped a couple of times but then discovered that running from side to side and just falling down was way more fun. There's a great vidoe of this that I've included at the end. But before the video... is this not the BEST picture!? I LOVE IT! It's just the perfect Isaac smile. But alas... this is all. Enjoy the video, It's kind of long but SO worth it!

A Mommy Moment

2009-12-16T18:24:00.001-08:00

I love my life!

Snow and Puppies...

2009-12-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

So first I owe all of you an apology. It has been a LONG time since my last blog. Thank you to my mother in law for bringing that to my attention! Love you!

And now that I have that out of the way... it snowed! It snowed a lot. In the Hays area we got over a foot of snow. So naturally we thought that Isaac needed to enjoy this gift from above. We went looking for a snowsuit at Wal-Mart and found absolutely nothing in Isaac's size so we ended up buying one several sizes too big. It was actually a spectacle at Wal-Mart. We put him in the suit to see if it would even be feasible for him to wear and as he walked down the store aisles several people stopped dead in their tracks to watch and laugh.

The next evening on Friday when I got home we bundled him up and took him out. We also couldn't find him any gloves so it didn't last long but he had a great time while he could. He even helped Daddy shovel the sidewalk.

Now that he's been out in it once he can't wait to get back out there again. We really need to hurry and find him some gloves. He will just stare outside our screen door and look back and forth between the snow and us with big begging eyes.

It doesn't help that our neighbor kids are outside all the time and usually in our yard because we have the biggest snow drifts! They are sweet kids and we enjoy having them over.

The second part of my blog title is puppies! Well we have a puppy! We just picked him up tonight. Tucker or Tuck for short is a Puggle. He is half Beagle and half Pug and we are already in love with him. Isaac is so excited. He kept saying "pa-pa-pa" the entire way home. He's actually doing really good with him too. He pets him very nicely. He wants to pick him up pretty badly but we haven't gotten to that point yet.

So that's the goings on in the Bloom house. I hope you all enjoyed our story. I'll try to blog again soon... Isaac has learned a new dance that I can't wait to get on video to show you all!

Stuck

2009-11-15T17:41:00.001-08:00

So earlier this evening while making dinner... I could easily see Isaac playing with his books in the living room. I turned away to cut up a few pieces of chicken (we had stir fry) when I suddenly hear a very high pitched, frightened, scream from my son. I run into the living room and find, no Isaac. I can hear him but I can't see him. Then I see the curtains start to move...

Isaac had crawled behind our couch and gotten himself stuck between the back of the couch and the wall. He was wedged pretty good but was able to crawl back out when I moved the couch a couple of inches away from the wall. I wish I could have taken a picture but of course that was not my first reaction and thus, he was freed before that crossed my mind.

I love toddler-hood!

Looking Back

2009-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

So this is a little late and random but it's too cute not to share. Pastor Kyle sent Kael and I pictures of our trick or treating trip to his house from both last year and this year. We got such a kick out of the pictures I thought you all would too.

Year 2008:

Year 2009:

It's crazy how much changes in a year!

Check This Out!

2009-11-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

www.kaelbloom.com

More Home Improvements!

2009-11-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

All last week Kael and I were busy painting our living room and kitchen. I think they turned out amazingly great and I wanted to share a few pictures with all of you too.

We'd love to hear feedback!

The kitchen is called Smoky Topaz and it's a fairly dark almost brown tan. I think it really makes the cabintes pop and it also warms the room up nicely.

The Living Room is called Herbal Wash and it's amazing! It's a very light minty color and it makes the whole room seem so much bigger! This is kind of a horrible picture but it's all I have.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T18:05:00.001-08:00

Happy belated Halloween everyone! Isaac's second Halloween was a lot of fun. He dressed up as a monkey and was just adorable.

We all hung out at the house for a while and had a few trick or treaters from the church stop by and then we headed out around 7:30 to do a little trick or treating of our own. We didn't make very many stops, just enough to weat our little monkey out.

When we got home he went right to bed and was out for the rest of the night.

Kael and I got to hang out with Tara and Lucas for a little while. They went trick or treating with us and than stayed at the house until Lucas had to go into work. They were so cute in their retro get ups!

Tara was wearing bright orange go-go boots and every house we went to someone asked her wear she got them and if she could wear them to church the next day! It was pretty funny to us all by the end of the night.

Isaac still didn't really know what was going on but it was great fun. He tried making a break with some candy on several occassions. If you'd like to see a few more pictures check them all out on facebook. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066793&id=77202701&l=b328bbc7e0

LOVE YOU ALL!

Clean Carpets... and a New Living Room

2009-10-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Well Halloween is almost here and Isaac is SO ready to reveal his costume. It's absolutly adorable! I thought about posting pictures of the "fitting" but decided to build up for the big reveal. In the meantime, here's what's happening in our lives.

We have clean carpets!!!

After putting this off for some time, we finally buckled down and decided to get it done. We went to Dillons first thing Saturday morning, rented a rug doctor, and got to work.

Side note: Rug doctors are amazing. Candice will remember this. Our landlord spilled an entire gallon of blue paint in our first apartment while we were painting my room and there was just so much there was no way it was coming out. BUT, Candice had the brilliant idea to rent a rug doctor and that thing sucked up so much paint it was amazing! The stain never came fully out but it was close and the landlord never said a word.

Back to the present: Our carpets look great. The water that came out of them looked hideous, but our carpets look great. I highly reccomend shampooing carpets. We will definitly be doing this every few months now.

So since we had to move all the furniture out of the living room to clean, we decided to rearrange things as well. We took apart our sectional and moved just the four individual seats underneath the big window. We're hoping this makes the room look a little bigger. We have a new media case on order too. The ones we have aren't toddler proof and we need something with doors. We also wanted something a little nicer since it is the first thing you see when you walk in now. An area rug, end tables, a lamp and maybe even a coffee table are also in the works.

Not that this is happening soon, but we're hoping this bigger feel will be a little more "buyer friendly."

Sweet Picture!

2009-10-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

One of our dear dear friends is a whiz at photoshop and took one of our Pumpkin Patch pictures and turned it into this. It's so neat I wanted to share! Thanks Schu!

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today Kael and I took Isaac to the Pumpkin Patch for the very first time. This is his second Halloween but since he was only a few months old last year, this is the first time he's really been able to take it all in.
He had a lot of fun running around the "patch." They had chickens and baby goats that he thought were just great. I'm pretty sure they didn't think the same of him since he constantly yelled at them to get their attention but that's ok. They also had a little house set up for fun picture moment. Here's one of my favorites. One of our friends said he looked like the ordering window for the pumpkins. After about 45 minutes we decided to head home with our goods. We got two big pumpkins and several small ones. I love this picture of Isaac and Kael as we're heading back to the car.

I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie

2009-10-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie, I'm Sorry Angie.

I promise there's still lots of hair for you to cut off too.

Pics of my first haircut... and the curls live on! The before shot. It was getting so bad. I got called a girl twice the day we finally marched into the beauty salon.

During the cut.

I sat on Mom's lap the whole time so I wouldn't squirm too much. Our good friend Ann cut my hair, she goes to our church.

The after shot. I told you there is still lots of hair up there. Even after almost an inch was trimmed off, I still have a fro!

The Cousins

2009-09-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

SO SO SWEET! Isaac thought Elliott was the greatest person in the whole world. He wanted to touch his head non stop and kept kissing him over and over. It was a wonderful weekend.

Playing Catch Up

2009-09-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

Catch-Up

I'm sorry it's been a while since we've blogged. It's been a bit crazy around our home lately. Two weeks ago as Kael told you we headed to Oakley to see his grandparents from California for the first time in about two years. It was the first time they had ever met Isaac and it was great getting to just hang out with them. This picture is one of my favorites of Isaac and G. Grandma. He was trying to feed her some of his cereal if I remember correctly. After that wonderful three day weekend it was back to work for a few days until...

Kansas City

Last weekend, as you may have guessed we all headed to Kansas City. And by "we all" I mean all of us. G. Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad Bloom, Kyle, Brandi and Elliott, Janae, and then of course us three. This was the first time we got to meet little Elliott and it was also a great chance to get pictures of both boys and to have them together with the greats before they headed back to California. Unfortunatly, I forgot to bring my camera and therfore I have no pictures to show you of the weekend... yet. Mom has several pics on her camera and I hoping to get copies soon. *WINK *WINK When I get them I will be sure to share them. Until then though, here are a few pics that Kyle and Brandi had done of Elliott over the weekend. The Saturday morning we woke up in Kansas City we recieved very disturbing news.

Jordyn Katherine

A member of our church was killed in a car accident late Friday evening. Jordyn was only 16 years old and her death has shaken the entire church and community of Hays. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this girl was. She was instantly loved my everyone she came in contact with and you could never catch her without a smile. Her parents are also amazing people who have been very open concerning the accident. They have preached forgiveness and God's sovreignty from the very beginning.

Now that I'm a parent this accident hits home so much for than it would have before. I feel so selfish when I think "God I hope I never have to experience what they are experiencing."

Jordyn's service was Tuesday and over 1,000 people attended to celebrate her life. We will all miss her very much.

2009-09-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

So...some of you are have probably asked yourself (at one time or another) why Isaac hair is so long and why we're not doing anything about it. The main reason...*drum roll please*...is because Isaac had yet to meet GREAT G-ma and G-pa from CALIFORNIA.

Well...all of that has changed! This past weekend Sara, Isaac and I drove to Oakley after church on Sunday to hang out with Grandma, Grandpa, Great G-ma, and Great G-pa. The "Greats" made the trip out Kansas to meet Isaac and the newest addition to the Bloom family - Elliot. And while they are here, my mom has grandpa doing some chores around the house. :)

We got to hang out with the whole Oakley family Sunday and most of the day on Monday. We got to BBQ some steaks (which I did an awesome job at), sit and enjoy some time with family and get some things done around the house that needed to be done.

And then this upcoming weekend we get to pile into van (a.k.a the loser cruiser) and head to Kansas City to see Kyle, Brandi, and Elliot. It's gonna be a good time!!! We'll be sure to post some pictures of Isaac and Elliot and their first meeting!

Until then...

Isaac's Not New... But Improved Room

2009-09-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

YAY for storage! We have sold Isaac's changing table and upgraded to some storage shelves and a toy box. After his first birthday party we had to make a special trip to Salina (they have a Target) just to find his room again. We had toys everywhere! Now is all very nicely put away but still low enough and convenient enough for Isaac to reach. Here's a few pics of his new layout.

Isaac's Birthday Party

2009-08-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

I won't talk very much tonight... One because I'm tired and still trying to catch up from the weekend and two... I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Here are his wonderful cakes made by Holly Augustine at Augustine's Bakery. They did a great job. Isaac got his own little "1" cake and he tore into it.

HA HA! Exhibit A. Oh he was such a mess. We had to give him a bath in the sink! There are a lot more pictures like this if you go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063044&id=77202701&l=d5a31130c8.

Here's a picture of Isaac in his big boy front facing car seat. Everyone who gave him money for his b-day contributed and he LOVES it! He thinks it's the greatest thing that he can see Mommy and Daddy and talks to us the whole trip no matter where we're going.

1 Year Pictures and Elliott!

2009-08-22T17:48:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of our favorites. Tracy here in Hays took the pictures again and did a wonderful job as always. She took several pictures of my family today as well. They were all here for Isaac's first birthday party. His party was a whole lot of fun and I will put of pictures of those tomorrow.

Now the really big news. The Bloom family has a new arrival! Everyone please meet Elliot Prescott. He was born at 12:17 on August 21st and was 5 lbs 4 oz and 17 3/4 long. Mom and baby are both doing wonderfully! He is SO cute! His birthday will be easy to remember too since it's just a day behind Isaac's. We're hoping to go see him next week.

WOW, where did the year go!?

2009-08-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

Isaac is 1 today. I can't believe it. It just doesn't seem possible that my little baby boy is already celebrating his first birthday!

We didn't celebrate a whole lot today but we did a few little things. Instead of eating at home, we went to the McDonald's off the interstate and let him play in the toddler play area. It has a little tunnel he can go through and lots of areas to climb on to. He could stay all day I think.

Since his official big party isn't until Saturday we're saving most of his gifts for him to open then but he did get one in the mail today from Aunt Kari so we let him open that one. I have never seen a child tear paper into smaller pieces. We had red paper everywhere! The actual gifts was a "Praise Baby" DVD and a little book of animals complete with a rattle. He had a great time with the book tonight and I know he'll love the DVD. He loves music and he loves dancing.

The other picture I just think is fun. He is so his father's son and he loves to drum. He's not so much drumming here but he's so stinkin' cute!

I will post more pictures after his official party Saturday. It will be so great!

Thor's Roar

2009-08-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Look at our little biker! He experienced his first motorcycle rally this weekend, Thor's Roar in Lindsborg. My mom was kind of in charge of the whole thing and we wanted to go down to support her. This is the 3rd year they have tried to put on the rally and the first year it hasn't rained!

The picture is of my father and Isaac on Dad's favorite bike, the Road King. We were pretty close to heading home when the picture was taken and Isaac was exhausted. It was SO hot and the heat wore us all out. But back to the rally. It got started with a big entrance from the American Legion riders. Then during the opening ceremony Kael sang the National Anthem and then since the ceremony is dedicated to our veterans, he also sang Toby Keith's "American Soldier." I have a video of Kael singing the National Anthem at the end of the blog if you want to take a listen. Sorry, it's sideways.

There were lots of bikers and lots of vendors at the rally and over all I think everyone thought of it as a success. They had a poker run, bike show, dance with live music and lots more. We didn't get to stay for all of it but what we did get to see was lots of fun. We even got to see my mom for a little bit. She sat down for lunch with us in between all the chaos.

And being in Lindsborg Isaac got to experience a few other traditions... like the Dala Horse! We bought him a little one and got it personalized with his name and of course we took his picture of the big dala sitting outside the Hemslojid. We also bought him some tradition chocolate Swedish cookies. He loved them. I know my Grandma Estred would be so proud.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-08-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday I turned 25. I'm a quarter of a century old! No I don't feel old, I'm thinking my mom does. :)

I had a great birthday weekend. It actually started on Friday afternoon. I only worked a half day at work and when I got off I headed over to Mane Attractions to get my haircut. Kael and I have a really great friend over there who does an amazing job of cutting our hair. I wanted something a little different and I told Ann to chop it off. I LOVE IT! It's not really styled in the picture to the left but at least it gives you an idea of how short it turned out.

After I got my haircut Kael picked me up and told me we needed to pick up Isaac at our friend's house. Well we passed the turn to our friend's house and ended up on the interstate headed East.

I won't get into all the details because this would make for a really long blog... but I wasn't really happy that we weren't getting our boy and going home. Kael and I got into a little bit of an argument and I gave him the silent treatment all the way to our destination, Salina.

Once we got to Salina, Kael told me Isaac was actually at his parent's house, he had a bag packed for me and this trip was to last all weekend. We're now talking again at this point. :)

Honestly I have the most amazing husband. He is so wonderful and I can't thank him enough for our romantic getaway. We did a little bit of everything and he even set up a surprise breakfast with my mom. We got to ride go carts, play putt putt golf, see a movie, swim and do lots of shopping. It was a super fun and relaxing weekend. We also cheated quite a bit on our diet with ice cream, chocolates and cheesecake. YAY!

Thanks sweetie, I love you and I can't wait till next year!

Late Post

2009-08-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

So last weekend Kael and I headed up to Oakley for his 5 year high school reunion. The weekend consisted of a parade, bbq and just some good ole time with family.

Isaac had a great time at the parade sitting on grandma's lap. Even the loud horns and sirens didn't phase him. He really loved the popsicles they were throwing out. We thought that we were going to get rained on but it only sprinkled a little.

The bbq was a lot of fun. Kael's best friend Jake made it back to town too so we all hung out together, played a little "twisted nuts" and "washers." Isaac loved the huge yard and the real grass. Uncle Jake even got in on the action.

After the bbq we headed back to the house to spend some time with Mom, Dad and Janae. We didn't get as much time with Janae as we would have liked since she had to go to work but we made the most of it. Isaac was a complete terror and all of Grandma's "pretties" had to be put up as high as possible.

Isaac also discovered he loves pots and pans. Grandma gave him one to pound on to try and divert him away from her coffee table. You'll see in the video it actually worked very well.

This weekend was my birthday so I'll be posting about that soon and then next week is Thor's Roar, a motorcycle rally in Lindsborg. The whole family will be headed that direction to help out my Mom. Again, we'll post about it soon! In the meantime... enjoy the video. We love you all!

2 Weeks Down... 10 to Go

2009-07-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked two weeks for Kael and I's diet.

The numbers.... Kael down somewhere between 18-20 pounds, Me down somewhere between 10-12 (and a whole jean size already)!

Please keep keeping us accountable! Love you all!

New Member of the Family...

2009-07-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

Is this not one of the cutest babies you have ever seen!? He looks like a miniature football player!

Everyone please meet the newest addition to the Beckman family (my Mom's side of the family)! His name is Griffin Dean and he is the first child of one of my many cousins Aaron. Ben and I kind of grew up with Aaron and his brother David. They lived in Iowa so we never got to see them as much as we wanted but when we got together oh we had fun. It's lots of fun now to see us all grown up and having babies and to really realize how time flies.

Isaac's New Nickname... Bruiser

2009-07-25T12:43:00.001-07:00

For all the children who read this blog... Let this picture show you why your parents tell you DON'T STAND UP IN THE BATHTUB! Isaac is still learning this lesson. Hopefully this recent wipe out will teach him sooner rather than later.

No Nolan it's neither pen nor do we beat him. :)

1 Week Down... 11 To Go

2009-07-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

We are now through with the first week of our diet.

We are both getting burnt out on salads already and are going to have to find something to with them that's a little more creative then just lettuce and maybe an egg if we're lucky.

However... numbers wise Kael is down 5 pounds and I am down 3.

We can't really notice it quite yet on our persons but we'll say we can. :)

Just one month away from 1

2009-07-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Mr. Isaac Bloom at 11 Months old.

Milestones:
-He now has 6 teeth. 4 on bottom, 2 on top.
-He can stand all by himself. He hasn't taken his first step yet but he's so close.
-His favortite words are Na-Night. He loves waving good night and saying Na-Night. Even if we're just walking out the door... Na-Night.
-His favorite game is running away from Kael and I when we're chasing him down the hallways and being attacked by his stuffed puppy. For the last game watch below. I love his laugh and can't help but laughing when I hear it.

Proverbs 15:17

2009-07-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

"Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted calf with hatred"

Kael and I have started a pretty strict diet this week. It's the same one that Kael's parents have started. It consists of no fruit, sugar, dairy, pop, root vegetables and so on and so on.

We only just started this on Tuesday and although it's been hard it's already started to pay off. Kael and I were both down a couple of pounds last night.

Jamie has been on the diet for 2 weeks now and is already down 17 pounds! I only hope that Kael and I can be as diligent.

Meet Marley

2009-07-15T18:36:00.001-07:00

Everyone, this is Marley. She is Isaac's first puppy.

We actually got her a few weeks ago over youth conference weekend. Now that we're all recovered from that I thought it was about time to introduce her to everyone. She is part Great Pyranese, Dalmation and Pointer. A mutt to be sure but she is SO pretty. She is all fluff with long puffy hair. She's got spots all along her back and one's even in the shape of a heart.

She has the greatest temperment and puts up with Isaac wonderfully. Isaac hasn't quite figured out he can't pull hair yet but she's very patient with him. She love to go on walks. In fact Isaac, Marley and I just got back from one this evening. She runs right along with the stroller and Isaac loves watching her.

After we got back from our walk Isaac and I hung out in the backyard with Marley for a few minutes. Marley wanted to play with Isaac so bad and he was having nothing of it tonight. If was far more interested in the dirt and grass. I'm just glad he kept his pacifier in and didn't eat any of it.

Our Sunday Morning Game

2009-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

So ornery... just like his father. :)

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

2009-07-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
-Declaration of Independence

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
-2 Cor. 3:17

May God bless you and your family on this day that we celebrate the freedom God gave us and the nation He birthed to proclaim it. Celebrating life, liberty and the pursuit of God who brings us love, joy and peace! We love you all.

Change in Colors

2009-06-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I bought this a few weeks ago especially for my mom (a more than huge KSU fan) while Kael and I were visiting Jake in Manhattan. I kind of forgot about it but just found the pictures on my camera. Here's a couple for you Mom... and yes you can put it on him while your here this weekend.

To all the Blooms, Donarts and Beckmans (minus Evan)... please look away.

Just in case you can't read it... "Real Babies Wear Purple"

A few milestones

2009-06-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I hoped you enjoyed Isaac's last post. He's right we all had a lot of fun. While he's sleeping I thought I'd tell you all about a few milestones Isaac hit last week.

1. He now says MA-MA! I was pretty excited.

2. He now has a third tooth! We just discovered it this weekend. Surprisingly, it's not on the top. It popped up on the right side of his other bottom two. Is this normal?

3. Although he's keeping his nickname "Scooter"... Isaac is crawling! The following video shows off both of his techniques. He was trying to chase down Aunt Nae to get her phone.

Take me out to the...

2009-06-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

...BALLGAME! On June 20th, 2009 (my 10 month birthday) I got to go to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game! Me, Mom and Dad had a great time. We actually left on Friday and headed to Kansas City. That's me in the car with my baseball cap all ready to go. Look at me I was already excited.

If you're wondering why we were headed to KC instead of St. Louis it's because they were playing the Royals this weekend at Kaufmann Stadium. Mom and Dad said it was great not having to drive to St. Louis for my first game. Apparently it's quite a ways further but soon they promise, we'll get to go to Busch Stadium, the home of the Cards.

When we got to KC we got to have dinner with some of Dad's old friends from back in the day. I won't tell you all their names because there was a lot of them... BUT, I made a new friend too. That's him on the right. His name is Jace and he's a Card fan too as you can see. The picture of him was actually taken at the game so I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Jace is only 5 months old so me being older and wiser, I naturally tried to tackle him and touch his face as much as possible. For some reason I kept getting told "no."

After dinner we all parted ways to get a good night's sleep. Oh, and by this time the Cards had just beat the Royals 10-5. GO CARDS!

GAME DAY! After a morning of being lazy it was game time. We all headed to the stadium around 12:30. We were meeting some more people for a tailgating party. If you don't know what that means, it's just a lot of food and people talking. I had a great time. There were lots of people there who though I was just pretty cute and several of them kept taking my picture.

The picture on the left is Mom, Dad and I at the tailgate party. Now looking at that picture you might think... "hmm, it looks alittle dark and Mom's hair looks a little wet." Well you would think correctly. It rained. It rained so much that the game got delayed a whole hour and a half.

Don't worry though. I knew exactly how to handle a rain delay... I slept! No I didn't sleep the whole time but for a good chunk of it.

Once the game got going around 4:40 I was totally in to it. I jumped up and down, swung my arms like crazy and yelled as loud as I could... and you know what!? I didn't get in any trouble. There were a bunch of guys sitting behind us that thought I was pretty cool. They kept talking to me and cheering with me. It was so much fun. I made it through the whole game! Which the Cardinals won! Final score 7-1.

So that's it! My first baseball game. I can now call myself an official Cardinals fan. I even got a certificate from the nice people at Kaufmann stadium that says so. OH! And I almost forgot. This was Dad's father's day present too. We got close to matching jerseys for the game, and then of course, the game! I hope Dad had as much fun as I did.

To wrap things up, here's one more picture. It's all of us at the very end of the game. I was so tired from all of my cheering but I was acting tough for the picture because everyone kept telling me how impressed they were with me for making it the whole game. I'm so big!

P.S. Cards beat the Royals again tonight too, final score 12-5.

My First Swim!

2009-06-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I love water yes I do... I love water how 'bout you!? I went swimming for the first time this weekend and I loved it. Mom, Dad and Aunt Nae took me to the Oakley pool after church on Sunday and we had a great time. We almost had the whole pool to ourselves. Grandma and Grandpa watched from the side.

To get to the pool we all walked from the house. That's me and Grandpa on his scooter over on the left. We go really fast and I just laugh and laugh it's so much fun. Grandpa and I we do circles around the other people that have to just walk. We're speedy! Also in the picture, please note my sweet Nemo swim trunks. Grandma Schwantes bought them for me for Easter. I'm so stylish.

After we got to the pool grandma put me in first just to test the waters... then we really went in. There's a video of Dad and I goofing around at the end of this blog if you want to take a look.

After we swam for about an hour I was getting really sleepy. Swimming is hard work. The other picture on the left is of me and grandma. I had just gotten dried off and was trying so hard to keep my eyes open. I didn't last very long once we got home though. I went right to sleep.

After today I can't wait to try the other pools that Mom and Dad were telling me about. Not only is there still the Hays Aquatic park to check out... there's still the Lindsborg Pool too! We'll post those pictures soon too I hope! Don't forget to watch the video. It's real short.

9 Months and Adorable!

2009-05-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Pictures are in! This time there's 57 of the handsome young man. To see them all just click the following link!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057968&id=77202701&l=047c7ffe45

Here's a tease...

9 Months and Into Everything!

2009-05-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

What Mom, what mess!? So, now that Isaac is aware of his surroundings and is quite the curious little boy, he has his own shelves in the living room and in his room that he can pull things down from and pretty much do with whatever he pleases. He love to make a mess and than move onto the next shelf.

He is also now 9 months old. We went to the doctor today for his 9 month well child check-up. He now weighs 22 pounds and 1 ounce keeping him in the 75th percentile for weight. PLUS, and this is a big one... he is now over 27 inches long taking him from the 10th percentile in length to the 50th! So that was big news not only for Kael and I but the doctor was pretty excited too.

We take his 9 month pictures with Tracy this Saturday and welcome any suggestions for picture ideas! Love you all!

Catching Water

2009-05-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

My mom visited us Friday night and gave Isaac a bath while she was here. She had a great time reminiscing about how I used to try to catch water droplets in my hands and letting Isaac do the same. You'll notice he outsmarts the water once though.

What you can't see is why he needed a bath however. He has a terrible cold that is making his stomach pretty upset. We all went out to eat earlier that evening and before our food had even arrived Isaac threw up all over himself, Kael and I. Needless to say we got our dinner to go.

More Pictures from the Weekend

2009-05-14T15:50:00.001-07:00

Getting ready to go on our trip. I'm learning to wear hats so that I won't get sunburnt when we all go to the Cardinals game in KC next month.

Me and Uncle Ben had a great time playing with some new toys. This one plays four different songs when little people pop up. Mom says the characters are from a show called Sesame Street. She says I'll watch it when I get a little older.

Here Uncle Ben and I check out the paper for a new truck. I like the red one.

Here Great Grandpa and I are having a deep conversation about cowboy hats.

Here is the said cowboy hat we were discussing. I was getting really tired by the time this picture was taken.

Grandpa giving me some words of wisdom.

See if you can keep up...

2009-05-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday
At 2:30 we leave for Lindsborg to see Mom's family. It was a lot of fun. We stayed for a few hours to have dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma, Great Grandpa and Uncle Ben. The picture on the left is me with both the grandmas to mark their first grand-mother and great-grand-mother's day. After dinner we left for Wichita. We arrived at Nolan and Angie's house about 9:30 and I went right to bed. Mom and Dad stayed up playing cards for a while and enjoying the company of great friends. They probably stayed up too late but I'm sure it was worth it... even when I woke Mom up bright and early at 7:00am. Which brings us to...

Friday
Friday was pretty relaxing. We all got to just hang out with Nolan for most of the day while Angie was at work. Dad and Nolan went shopping for a little while to see if they could find Dad some really cool headphones but to no avail. After Angie got off work we all went to eat at a place called PF Changs. We even got to meet up with some more of Mom and Dad's old friends, Candice and Eric. They hadn't gotten to see them since they got married and they had never met me so that was great fun. Both of these pictures were taken at the restaurant. The one on the left is Angie giving me a lemon. I love lemons just like mom, don't worry grandma Schwantes. I didn't eat very much. The picture on the right is Candice and I. We were just meeting for the first time and I was impressing her with my charming smile.

After a wonderful dinner Mom, Dad and I said our goodbyes and jumped in the car again. We headed for Arkansas City and arrived about 9:30. After unloading the car we all crashed immediately. We had an early morning...

Saturday
Graduation Day! Everyone say congrats to Aunt Janae who graduated from Cowley County Community College this weekend! We all were at the graduation ceremony by 10am. It lasted about an hour and a half and then we had a little luncheon for Janae. Nothing big but it was really nice. There was another baby about my age there and we had screaming matches back and forth across the table to keep everyone entertained. This picture on the right isn't from graduation day but at least it shows Janae and I together.

After the luncheon we all got it the car again and headed to Bartelsville, OK. Uncle Kyle and his wife Brandi live here and we all went to their new house. Brandi cooked us all some amazing tacos for dinner. That's me jumping on her lap and introducing myself to baby Elliott. (Baby Elliott is in her tummy, Mom says he'll be here in September). I had a lot of fun at their house, they have a puppy named Jax and I love him. If you go back to one of our Christmas blogs there's a picture of us playing together.

After a great night, we all headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Dad needed to be at the church by 7:30 in the morning so we wanted to get to bed early.

Sunday
Kyle's church has two services, one at 9:30 and one at 11:00. Dad led the music in both services and Uncle Kyle gave the sermon. They both did a wonderful job and they both got lots of compliments.

After church we all headed to Tulsa, OK to visit Aunt Kari. She just got a new house too and we all wanted to see it. We ate lunch with her, visited her home and then you guessed it... we hit the road again. This time we had a long journey a head of us. We had to drive a whole 6 hours all the way home to Hays. We had to stop to get some dinner along the way and that's when Mom took this picture of me and Dad driving. I was having a blast to say the least.

We all got home about 11:00 and of course we all headed to bed as soon as possible. It was so good to be home. I had been in the car seat so long that as soon as I got put in my crib I spread eagle and just laid there for the longest time. It was wonderful.

So while exhausting, we had a great weekend. Tonight is Tuesday and I'm still recuperating. I'm sure Mom and Dad are too but I'm sure we'll all be ok by the weekend.

Did I mention?

2009-04-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

So I know that this is a little late... but looking back I forgot to tell you all that Isaac turned 8 months old on Monday.

It seems so surreal to Kael and I that 8 months ago our baby boy entered this amazing world. It really does seem like just yesterday we were bringing him home. Now in less than 4 months we're going to be celebrating his first birthday.

I'm sure you all have guessed already, but today's picture is Isaac on the day he was born. He looks so different now, you wouldn't even know he was the same boy.

He has started standing up in the bathtub, which Kael and I are very much not ready for him to do. I think walking is more than I can handle.

My Busy Weekend!

2009-04-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a weekend I had. I thought last weekend was busy with Easter! It all started on Friday night. Aunt Tara, who I lovingly call "Ta Ta," and Uncle Lucas, who I can't stop talking to (even when I'm supposed to be quiet), came over to watch a movie with me. Mom and Dad will say it was to watch a movie with them, but it was me. Mom says it was a movie called "Seven Pounds" starring a guy named Will Smith. They all really liked it, I fell asleep. I tried really hard not to but I had to give in.

Saturday I helped Mom and Dad clean the house all day. We haven't been home very much the last few weekends so our house got really dirty. Not to mention, there was a TON of laundry to do. Laundry is my expertise as you can see by the picture. After all my hard work I needed a bath really bad.

Dad was all too happy to oblige. I love our new bath tub. Mom will let me splash all I want, as high as I want. I'm even teaching myself to stand up. Mom's not too keen on this idea of me learning to stand. She thinks I'm going to skip crawling and go straight to walking! I kind of hope so! I get so mad when I can't get something that looks like so much fun.

On Sunday we of course went to church. Mom put me in this cute shirt. It's for a 12 month old baby but she likes it so much she put it on me early. I don't think it fits too bad so I'll allow it. The orange stuff on my face is lunch. I really like lunch. Dad calls me pumpkin face. I don't know what a pumpkin is but I'm good with whatever Dad says.

That's about it. That was my weekend! I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Until next time, Isaac.

Easter Excitement

2009-04-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, and especially grandmas who Mom promised we'd post pictures. HAPPY BELATED EASTER!

Mom, Dad and I had a great Easter together. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Mom hadn't woke me up at 5:30 in the morning! That's right Mom woke me up, not the other way around.

She had a really good reason though. We all had to be at the church be 6:30. Celebration did 4 services on Sunday morning. 7, 9, and two at 10:45. All services had a great turnout. Plus we offered a free breakfast at 8:00 and free family pictures. We took a family picture but don't have a copy yet. Once we get it we'll be sure to post it.

After church we headed over the the Rice house for dinner. Lots of people were there like Brant, DeLynn, Landry, Kelby, DeAnne, Ed, Cindy and Tessa! All the food was really goood Mom said. I only got to try an olive but man was that tasty. I ate the whole thing and tried out my teeth.

Now for the pictures. This outfit is obviously my Easter outfit. Aren't I cute!? I was all smiles all day despite the early morning. Dad and I took a nap later at the Rice house so that helped. In the last picture I'm holding the bunny Pastor Kyle and Debbie got for me. I didn't let it go the rest of the day. I'm also wearing the bunny ears Grandma Bloom got for me. I didn't like wearing them very much but they tasted really good!

Getting ahead of ourselves

2009-04-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone - Isaac here.

I'm not sure if you've noticed or not...but I'm pretty much a big deal around here. So much so...that i've decided to feed myself. Mom took a video of it so we could show you all..

My first tooth!

2009-04-05T12:24:00.001-07:00

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have my first tooth! All that pain in my mouth has finally paid off. As of April 4, 2009 in the early early hours of morning my tooth emerged.

Mom and Dad have been trying to get a picture of my pearly white but thus far I have been successful in sabotaging their efforts.

I want you all to get to see it for yourselves! So come visit me!

OUR NEW BATHROOM!

2009-04-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

We have a new bathroom! We have a new bathroom! OK, and by bathroom I mean our bathtub and shower have been refinished. I must say the guys at First Class Kitchen and Bath did an amazing job. The whole thing looks bran spanking new for a fraction of what we thought we were going to have to pay.

This first picture to your left is our beautiful (and still wrinkled) new shower curtain. Isn't it cute!? We're doing a lot of blue accents in other parts of the bathroom that you can't see yet.

The second picture, the one here to your right is the actual inside of our bathtub. I wish we had a before picture but we don't. Just imagine no caulking and black mold EVERYWHERE! The guys stripped our tub and used a major cleaner to kill the mold. The cleaner was so powerful Kael and Isaac had to vacate the house for the day because of the fumes. You should also notice the new foot mat. The guys installed a permanent foot mat so there is no chance of us slipping and breaking a hip. This will come in especially handy when Isaac decides to stand-up in the tub for the first time.

This third picture is a distant picture of the final project. SO GREAT! I can't believe the total transformation that this has been to our bathroom. The whole room just feels 10x bigger. I can't wait to give Isaac his first bath in a real bathtub!

Love you all!

Mommy's New Ink

2009-03-27T19:22:00.001-07:00

So Mom was a little jealous that Dad had two tats and she didn't so... last Saturday she remedied that. Lee at Sore Loser did her's too.

Chris Norris is a really good graphic designer who not only works with Mom but also goes to church with us. He is the one who designed the tattoo for Mom. She wanted something feminine that intertwined the Icthus fish with the Cross and Chris took it a step farther. He added all of the detail on the bottom because of our last name. He wanted the cross to look like it was "blooming." A faith in full Bloom!

Bath Time!

2009-03-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

This video right here is every reason we need to remodel our bathroom! Which I am happy to announce is happening THIS MONTH! We have Kale Myers from First Class Kitchen and Bath here in Hays coming in to refinish our bath/shower combo. I am SO excited to get it done and not be afraid of putting Isaac in our tub. It also means we're one step closer to getting the house ready to sell and the potential of moving into a bigger home for our family. The picture on the left is just to show you all how curly our little boy's hair is getting. It is absolutely out of control and we love it!

Isaac's First Word

2009-03-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well he's been working on it for some time now and it happened this afternoon while watching the KU game. Isaac said "DaDa." He was even nice enough to do it on video for you all the hear too. Enjoy! (Warning: he's not in clothes).

Happy Spring to One and All

2009-03-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Do all know what yesterday was!? Well yes, I turned 7 months old, but besides that. SPRING started yesterday!

To honor that special occasion Grandma Bloom bought me this very special hat. Look, I'm in full Bloom. Pun intended.

Plus, look at this... Aunt Janae came to see me today. She is headed back to school but couldn't resist my charm and stopped to say hello. She gets to graduate from Cowley County Community College soon and we're all very proud of her. She's decided to go into physical therapy. Surely you can't go wrong in that profession. We're all going to go down to Ark City to see her graduate. It's the same weekend as mother's day so we'll be on our way to Bartelsville to see uncle Kyle and aunt Brandi too.

Did you know that uncle Ben just bought a house! We're really proud of him too. He gets to close on it this weekend. I think we get to see it next weekend. He's promised us a BBQ.

Lots of goings on as you can tell. We'll keep you all posted! LOVE YOU!

Go KU!

2009-03-20T10:38:00.001-07:00

A special thanks to my Aunt Lisa who provided me with my very own KU garb to cheer on the hawks during the championship tournament. Mom wanted me to tell you that even though your sister may not like you very much for giving it to me, my father and his family are appreciative.

Hopefully they'll give me a good birthday present and win today!

And yes, I said birthday present. I'm 7 months old today!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS GO KU!

Horton Hears a Who

2009-03-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this movie yet... SEE IT! Kael and I watched it last night and it was great. Not only was it laugh out loud funny it had a great story to it too!

Mr. Independent

2009-03-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

So as you can tell I love to hold my bottle, kind of. I really like to play with it too. Mom decided to take a video of me and then I found something else really cool... the camera!

Daddy's New Ink

2009-03-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show off Daddy's new tattoo to everyone. In case you can't read what it says in the picture:

"For we know and rely in the love God has for us GOD IS LOVE whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them."

Pictures are Here!

2009-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

So... we have 53 pictures and they are all adorable! Here is just a sample! To enjoy all of the pictures in their splendor... click the following link.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053529&id=77202701&l=dd62c

HAPPY 6 Months to ME!

2009-02-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Guess what!? I'm six months old now! Can you believe it? Mom and Dad sure can't.

I had my 6 month check-up on Friday... here are my stats.

17lbs 10oz - 60th percentile for weight
25 inches - 10th percentile for length
44.5cm - 75th percentile for head circumference

I also got my 6 month pictures taken over the weekend. The picture of me to the left is one of the outfits that I wore during the photo shoot. I also took a bunch of pictures in just a white onesie on my cool Steelers balnket! As soon as we get them I'll have Mom post them for you all.

Praise Report!

2009-02-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

I just realized that it's Wednesday night and I forgot to update all of you on my surgery results. As you probably guessed from my status, the tumor was benign! Praise God!

I go back now in two weeks to have my stitches removed.

The next person to see the doctor will be Isaac. He has his 6 month check-up on Friday. Wow how fast the time has gone.

Mmmmm, FOOD!

2009-02-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Isaac here. Let me tell you about my weird week. Mom couldn't hold me for almost two whole days! It threw me off a little bit and I wouldn't let anyone hold me but her on Saturday when her shoulder was feeling better. Grandma Schwantes and Uncle Ben came down for the weekend to help Mom and Dad out while Mom was out of commission. Here's Grandma feeding me some breakfast. I love breakfast! OK, I love every meal! This video looks a whole lot different from the first one Mom posted of me eating for the first time huh.

Thank You

2009-02-12T08:52:00.002-08:00

Thank you all for the continued prayers. The surgery went very well. It took about and hour longer than planned because of a few complications and the fact that the tumor was a little bigger than planned but overall it went very well.

The doctor believes that it's simply a fibrosis tumor but it's being sent off to Kansas City for a biopsy as I type. We should have the results by Tuesday. I'll be sure to let everyone know what the final verdict is.

Prayer Request

2009-02-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hi all. I know the last two blogs have been about me and for that I apologize. Pics of the little man will be posted again soon. But until then, if you all could lift up a couple of prayers for me I would appreciate it.

Tomorrow at 9am I am having a "suspicious lesion" removed from my shneck (that's in between my shoulder and my neck). Im sure it's nothing and so is the doctor but I'd appreciate the prayers all the same. The doctor told Kael and I that it will be a pretty sizeable scar and tht all day tomorrow I won't be able to lift a thing... including my son. I also won't be able to feed Isaac because of the meds that they will have to use to numb the area. This will be the hardest part for me.

So that's what's happening in our lives. We love you all!

Welp, that's embarrasing

2009-02-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

So since my loving husband posted that wonderful video of me enjoying our new Wii... I guess these won't be nearly as embarrasing as I thought they would be.

On Saturday night I had the great pleasure of being Lightning Jack, the Nex-Tech mascot. Here are some pictures from the evening. Enjoy!

HeHe HeHe

2009-02-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

Go ahead - it's ok to laugh. :)

I love you Sara!