The Kriz Family » Spring

This kid is going to be trouble

jim — Mon, 16 May 2011 03:07:59 +0000

So we made some pancakes (“flapjacks”, as we like to call them around these parts…) after church this morning, and Heidi, Lukas, and I are sitting at the table eating. Elsa is walking around being busy, but she is pretty good and doesn’t go far from us. Then all of a sudden I see her peeking up over the back of the couch. I was pretty surprised, because she isn’t quite tall enough to climb up there yet. And I’m also immediately jumping up out of my chair because she isn’t the most careful kid around, and I can see her flopping over the side onto the floor, or back on to the hearth or something like that. As I get around the couch to scoop her up, I lost it when I saw how she actually got up there. She scooted this little black folding stool over there, moved it up next to the couch, and voilà – now she can climb up. I didn’t realize she was problem-solving like that yet. She is also the one who you see pretty often trying to climb out of the crib – never saw that with Lukas… I think we’re in trouble…

Yes! That stool sure comes in handy for climbing up on things!

Now I’ll just chill on the couch with my "iPod"

Finally, some sun!

jim — Sat, 07 May 2011 01:06:22 +0000

We finally had a sunny day today. I think we’ve had about 3 sunny days in the past 30, it is getting a little ridiculous. What better to do than play outside and climb a tree!

It’s tree-climbing time!

Everybody Loves Girl Scout Cookies

jim — Wed, 04 May 2011 02:58:42 +0000

Our little Elsa has started throwing fits when she doesn’t get her way. Tonight, she was really letting us have it because Lukas was at the table eating Goldfish after he ate his dinner, but she only had Cheerios on her tray. She was happy once we gave her some Goldfish too, but then got mad again when we brought out the Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mints – mmmmm…), and didn’t give her any. But if you put other things (veggies, fruit, etc) in front of her, she’ll just shove it away or throw it to Boone if we’re not looking. How the heck does she even know?? Anyway, we gave her a Thin Mint too, and she was happy again. What a stinker.

She won’t eat her vegetables, but she’ll sure eat the Thin Mints…

Suburban Turtle

jim — Sun, 01 May 2011 00:11:10 +0000

Heidi discovered a turtle in one of our flowerbeds today while she was weeding. I’ll bet he’s 100 years old, at least that’s what I told Lukas. I’m assuming he will hang around the house for a while (can’t go too far too fast, right…), so it will be fun to go out and search for him, which is what Lukas wanted to do every time we went out today. I think Mr. Turtle was getting a little miffed that we kept moving him though.

Out of my way, I need to get back to my flowerbed by sundown!

I’m not coming out til you put me down!

Happy Easter!

jim — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:02:02 +0000

Happy Easter everyone. He is risen!

I can’t believe how fast this year is going by. Just a few months ago, we celebrated Elsa’s first birthday, now Easter Sunday is almost over and we’re heading in to May. It’s been a while since our last update (as usual lately…), so I thought today would be a good day to finally post something out here.

Last weekend was busy. We went to Kevin and Erin’s to celebrate Kevin’s birthday on Saturday. The kids had a great time over there, and the parents did too. (Thanks for having us Kevin & Erin!). The next day, we went to Palm Sunday mass, then had two Easter Egg hunts. We were all tired at the end of that day! Our little Elsa has started walking (just last weekend, actually), so she was able to walk around and get some eggs. She’s still pretty clumsy, but it is fun to watch her. She really gets going, and her big belly is always leading the way – and keeping her balanced when she starts to topple backwards

Yesterday, we colored Easter eggs. Elsa is still not quite old enough to have any interest in this, but Lukas was excited about it. Then in the afternoon, we went to Kevin & Erin’s again to celebrate Caroline’s birthday. Once again, a fun time for us all. And of course, we celebrated Easter today. We went to church this morning, then had Heidi’s parents over for Easter dinner. All through the service this morning, Lukas was talking about how Jesus’ body wasn’t in the tomb when they rolled the stone away. And where did he go?? He is risen! I love that he is so interested in this, but just wish he had a volume control for places like church, the car, at home, pretty much everywhere. We asked him today to turn his volume control down about half way, and he responds (loudly), with a laugh, “But daddy, I don’t have a volume control! That’s silly!” “I know Lukas, I know…” I replied… And this evening, we started to notice that Elsa is probably just as bossy as her brother. Granny took her shoes off and had them in another room. Elsa brought them over and tried to get them on Granny’s feet as best as she could. Then pretty much every time Granny took her shoes off after that, Elsa would bring them around to put them back on. Everything has to be in its place!

Anyway, I have some videos I’ll be posting soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos from the past few weekends.

Lukas found an egg – collecting in the Home Depot bag

Green egg in one hand, other hand holding on to Mommy… Now how do I get this yellow one?

I have a bunch of eggs now!

Mommy loves when I make this face

Checking out the loot

Just out for a stroll…

Checking out the colors – orange is almost done!

Always putting on a show for the camera…

Elsa in her Easter outfit

So ladylike

Happy Easter!

Things Lukas Loves

jim — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:03:41 +0000

Lukas loves his dog Boone. I mean, he tries to hug him all the time, he’ll throw his toys to him (especially his stuffed sheep), and crack up when Boone pounces on it, he even has to make sure to say “night night” to him before he goes to bed. It’s really sweet. Those two are going to be great pals. Here are a couple photos of Lukas (really classy ones in his underwear…) and Boone.

And another thing Lukas really loves is water. When he goes to Granny’s, he gets to take cups of water and basically dump them everywhere. He doesn’t get to do that at home. That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Anyway, now that the weather is warmer, we’ve been spending more time outside, and we can let him play with water outside. Here are a couple shots of our (soaking wet) son playing with the pail that Grandma and Grandpa gave him.

One last thing Lukas loves is to imitate anything you say. This is better captured on video, but since I didn’t have the camcorder out, this photo will have to do. This is our son yelling “James!” at the top of his lungs. He heard Heidi yell for me, and decided to try it too. He had to yell really loud to try and drown out the lawnmower running in the background.

There are a lot more things he loves – peas, Goldfish, Thomas (the train), George (the curious monkey), and on and on. These are just a few of the things we have photos for. He sure loves Mommy and Daddy too, and that’s what really makes you realize that even though raising a child is a LOT of work, it has so many rewards and is so definitely worth it. We love you Lukas!

The Kid Knows Windows®

jim — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:47:36 +0000

Today I was having some trouble with our desktop computer (running Windows XP, of course…), and ended up getting some advice from my almost-two-year-old son on how to fix it.

“Reboot”, he says – and sure enough, it worked, the computer is running fine now. He’s learning this stuff early…

Easter 2009

jim — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:39:32 +0000

We had a nice little Easter celebration with our family today. We went to church this morning (that only lasted about 45 minutes before Lukas was ready to go…), and went to Granny and Opa’s house for the lunch and the Easter Egg Hunt. Our boy was more interested in collecting eggs this year, but still was easily distracted, especially by his cousin “Okie”. Times like these make us realize how fast Lukas is growing up. Last year, he really didn’t care much about the eggs, we were just dropping them in his little turtle basket for the heck of it. This year, he was running around, picking them up, chasing the kids, and generally enjoying himself. Before you know it, he’ll be going off to college – at Miami U, of course… – and moving out.

Here we are in the morning – Lukas spotted his Easter baskets (one from us, one from Grandma and Grandpa Kriz) on the way into the kitchen for breakfast…

At Granny & Opa’s house – Lukas, Okie, and Irving

Eating a banana. Why are we taking pictures of this, you ask. We just recently found out that Lukas likes to eat bananas, and he doesn’t want them cut up anymore, he likes to eat them like a big boy. He has some trouble peeling them, but he’ll gobble up the whole thing with some help.

Collecting some eggs

Granny is pointing one out (this was during a distracted moment…)

This one is the best – everybody has their cameras out taking the same pictures of a little boy collecting Easter Eggs